SFMOMA commissioned Hughen/Starkweather to create a 21-foot wide layered ink, gold leaf, glass, and aluminum artwork titled Between Water and Land for the main entrance of the new Chase Center in downtown San Francisco. The site-specific work is based on past, present, and future maps of the San Francisco Bay Area and references dynamic natural and built landscapes — present-day street grids dissolve into past landscapes of sand dunes and marshes. In the future, climate change could lead to some developed areas being returned to nature in the face of increasingly frequent floods or fires.

Seemingly unlimited natural resources were once the great promise of the American West. In this artwork, gold leaf is used to render forests, marshlands, wildlife, and rivers. Dwindling natural resources are increasingly precious in California — a state that has seen more than one “gold rush” in its history, including those involving real estate, technology, and water rights.

Read more about the commission on the SFMOMA website, a San Francisco Chronicle article, and at Magnolia Editions, who worked with the artists to fabricate the piece.