Großes Bleimeer 1990

Here we have "Großes Bleimeer" by Joachim Bandau, which translates to "Great Sea of Lead," and it's a whole room filled with lead tiles! Looking at it, it's hard to ignore the sheer physicality of the thing. Bandau's work is all about the raw, heavy, and somewhat toxic presence of the material itself. You can almost smell the metal, feel its weight. Each tile is a unique, slightly irregular form, laid out edge to edge, like a landscape of dark geometry. The way the light catches the surface of the lead, it's not shiny or reflective, but it has this muted, almost internal glow. And the individual pieces—the way they meet and don't quite meet—creates this subtly shifting, shimmering surface that is totally mesmerizing. It reminds me a bit of Richard Serra's use of steel, in that it's a material that speaks of industry, labor, and a kind of brutal honesty. It’s a meditation on material, process, and the unexpected beauty of the mundane. What do you think?