In 2014, the Sacramento Kings and Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC) partnered to create a panel of prominent artists and community members to create an art plan for Golden 1 Center. Through the partnership, the Kings donated previously existing art located in the Downtown Plaza to SMAC and contributed $5.5 million to the “Art in Public Places” program – the largest public art investment in city history.
As part of the program, Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadive led an effort to bolster the initial contribution with $4 million dollars, securing the first publicly-owned and permanently displayed original sculpture by world-renowned artist Jeff Koons. Four more projects, created by local artists and selected by the panel, welcome visitors at the main entrances to the arena and Downtown Commons.
Jeff Koons – Coloring Book #4
Jeff Koons was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1955 and currently lives and works in New York City. Since his first solo exhibition in 1980, Koons’s work has been shown in major galleries and institutions throughout the world. Koons earned renown praise for his public sculptures, such as the monumental floral sculpture Puppy (1992), shown at Rockefeller Center and permanently installed at the Guggenheim Bilbao. Another floral sculpture, Split-Rocker (2000), previously installed at the Papal Palace in Avignon, Château de Versailles, and Fondation Beyeler in Basel, was most recently on view at Rockefeller Center in 2014.
Coloring Book #4, fifth and final in the series of 18-foot-tall chrome sculptures can be seen in the plaza outside of Golden 1 Center.
Gale Hart – Untitled
Gale Hart, known as Sacramento’s Godmother of Contemporary Art, created a work featuring a series of sculptures along L Street in front of arena and at one of three entrances into the arena plaza. The installation features six multi-colored approximately 10-foot fiberglass and stainless steel darts, a large dart board fabricated with terrazzo and giant concrete numbers installed on the building and etched into the sidewalk. Two giant bronze hands holding pieces of a dart game frame the entrance to the arena at the corner of 5th and L streets.
Bryan Valenzuela – Untitled
Local rising art star Bryan Valenzuela’s sculpture is comprised of two separate channels that wind, twist and cascade through the arena’s southwest escalator atrium. These two river channels will intersect at the halfway point around a structural beam in the center of the space, merging into one channel, flowing to the spatial edge beyond the escalator. The piece will consist of approximately 400 individual hollow blown-glass spheres.
Each sphere will be translucent, adorned with abstracted aquarelle designs of varying intensity in primarily blue and turquoise shades. A reflective gold color will be added to the design, evoking glints of gold in the river, hinting at the 19th-century history of the area.
Bill Fontana – Untitled
World-renowned sound artist Bill Fontana is producing a sound sculpture on the linear plaza on the north side of the arena. The sound mix will reflect Sacramento and the building itself. A matrix of 34 small loudspeakers are distributed among the planters on the plaza and on the two Green Wall sections facing the planters, producing an immersive sound experience.
Royal Chicano Air Force – Untitled
RCAF members Esteban Villa, Juanishi Orosco and Stan Padilla will contribute two pieces of art: a new mural that is displayed inside Golden 1 Center and a restoration of their 1977 mural titled “Metamorphosis,” located on the downtown parking garage on 3rd and L Streets at the West entrance of DOCO. The unveiling of the new art in the arena and restoration will coincide with the Commission’s 40th anniversary in 2017.