As Above So Below

1997
pa_asb_terminal

As Above, So Below, 1998

A suite of glass and mosaic works for Grand Central Terminal, New York

All mosaics fabricated by Franz Mayer of Munich

Link here to interactive map 

The night sky has fascinated human beings for centuries. Studded by golden stars arranged in the shapes of the constellations, the ceiling in the Main Concourse at Grand Central Terminal is one of the most beautiful examples of this abiding fascination. Watched over by Mercury, the Roman god of communication and travel, Grand Central Terminal becomes a metaphor for our connection with the wider world beyond New York City—a connection that extends to the very stars themselves. Located in Grand Central Terminal North, the mosaic, bronze, and glass reliefs in Ellen Driscoll’s As Above, So Below pay homage to the heritage of the Main Concourse by taking the viewer on a round-the-world journey to the night sky above five different continents. The work’s tableaux recount myths of the continents and their civilizations, the heavens, and the underworld. Looked at one by one, these scenes bring to life ancient tales of the birth of the world, the sun’s daily transit, the stars in their courses, and the fates and fortunes of mortals and deities. Viewed as a whole, As Above, So Below suggests how the stories we tell about the heavens mirror the way we live on earth, and reminds us of our spiritual and worldly past as we hurry to and from our trains

45 Street Crosspassage: Australia (Tracks 106 and 107); Lenape (Tracks 114-116); Maya (Track 102-105)

47th Street Crosspassage: Celtic (Tracks 12-15); Sisyphus one, Sisyphus two (Track 19); Persephone (Tracks 32-34); Egypt Nout (Track 34-37); Africa Central (Tracks 40-42)

Northeast Passage 48th Street Spine at Park Avenue: India ,Tibet, and Nepal; China

Escalator Wall at 47th St. and Park Avenue: Albert Einstein

As Above So Below, Grand Central Terminal North 48 th St. Spine <strong>Australia</strong>, 7’H x 3’W glass mosaic <br> This faithful reproduction of a bark painting by Minimini Mamarika represents the aboriginal view of the constellations known in the West as Orion and the Pleiades. Australia detail <strong>Lenape</strong>, 12’W x 9’H glass mosaic <br> Native American, Northeast Woodlands (Lenape and Iroquois tribes)<br> A woman in the upper world feel into a hole created when an enormous tree was uprooted. As she fell, birds caught her and brought her down onto the back of a turtle, which became Turtle Island, symbolic of the Earth. She then became the sun and the moon. Detail of Lenape Detail of Lenape Lenape glass 16" x 24" <strong>Maya</strong>, 14’ x 7’ glass mosaic <br> To the Maya, the Big Dipper is a macaw bird. It disappears from view when shot from the sky by one of the Hero Twins (the sun or the moon) only to rise again. <strong>Maya</strong>, 14’ x 7’ glass mosaic <br> To the Maya, the Big Dipper is a macaw bird. It disappears from view when shot from the sky by one of the Hero Twins (the sun or the moon) only to rise again. Detail of Maya Detail of Maya <strong>Celtic</strong>, 9’W x 8’H, bronze and glass mosaic <br> In the ancient Celtic world, the solar god was often depicted carrying the sun like a spoked wheel. The wheel implied that the sun traveled like a chariot across the sky. Celtic detail <strong>Sisyphus one</strong>, 16’W x 6’H stone and glass mosaic<br> Sisyphus betrayed divine secrets and was sentenced to the Underworld, where he was condemned to roll an enormous stone up a hill only to have it roll back down again. Here he pushes old diagrams of the heavens Sisyphus detail <strong>Sisyphus two</strong>, 12’ W x 6’H, stone and glass mosaic Sisyphus two detail <strong>Sisyphus</strong>, 8’W x 7’H, Silkscreened Glass hemicircle of the moon with moon diagrams <strong>Persephone</strong>, 8’W x 7’H, glass mosaic and sand cast glass <br> Also consigned to the Underworld, Persephone was told she could return to earth if she fasted, but she weakened and ate a pomegranate. As punishment she was forces to spend half the year underground, the time we know as winter. Persephone detail <strong>Persephone</strong>, glass sequence of feet going into the Underworld Detail of <strong>Persephone</strong>, glass sequence, 16"H x 24" W <strong>Egypt Nout</strong>,glass mosaic and sand cast glass<br> To the ancient Egyptians, the night sky was a female, the goddess Not, who ate the sun every day with her star studded body. Detail of Egypt Nout Nout swallowing the sun, glass panels 16” x 24” Nout swallowing the sun glass detail <strong>Africa Central: Kongo 1</strong>, 9.5’ W x 7’ H. Glass mosaic and bronze <br> The Kongo symbol called Four Moments of the Sun represents dawn, noon, sunset, and midnight, mirroring the soul’s progress from birth to full strength to old age to rebirth after death. <strong>Kongo 1</strong> detail Kongo border detail <strong>Kongo 2</strong>, 5’ diameter, glass mosaic Kongo 2 detail <strong>India ,Tibet, and Nepal</strong>, Main mosaic 7’ diameter, glass mosaic<br> The hands making a ritualized gesture known as a mudra hold skull caps symbolizing the five elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and ether Main mosaic 7’ diameter, glass mosaic Detail of main mosaic Mudra detail 2’ diameter <strong>China</strong>, 8’ diameter, China glass mosaic with cast glass border<br> An ancient theory called hun t’ien stated that the earth and the heavens were separate hemispheres filled with water, constantly being spun. Here they are shown against an old Chinese astrological map called the Suzhou chart. China detail China detail China glass, five panels 16” H x 24” W <strong>Albert Einstein</strong>, 7’ diameter, Glass mosaic<br> Einstein, considered the founder of 20th century physics, was fascinated when he was a boy, by the movement of a needle on a compass given to him by his father. Einstein detail Working on the drawing for Sisyphus mosaic