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Crazy Pablo: From Lead to Gold
Can art transform a thought? If our thoughts are part of the substance that shapes who we are, can encountering a work of art quietly transform that substance too?
Inbal Zakai
February 20, 2026
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A Book That Cannot Fly
At first glance, we see an open book, monumental in scale, resting solidly on a base like an altar. But this is no ordinary book. Its cover, its thick, rigid pages, and even the wings emerging from either side are cast entirely in lead. The metal gives the work a matte, scarred, almost wounded surface. The wings are not light or feathery; they are dense and heavy, folded rather than airborne. Everything about the sculpture conveys weight - physical, historical, emotional. It feels less like a contemporary artwork and more like an object unearthed from a distant civilization, a relic carrying the gravity of memory.
Fun Fact
Anselm Kiefer was born in 1945, in Germany, literally into the rubble of a country rebuilding itself after World War II. That sense of aftermath, of history still smoldering, runs through much of his work.
He is known for using unconventional, raw materials: lead, straw, ash, clay, concrete, even dried plants. These are not decorative choices. Straw burns. Ash remembers fire. Lead carries weight and toxicity. His studio often looks less like a painter’s workspace and more like a laboratory, or an archaeological site.
Think About ItKiefer is deeply influenced by alchemy, the ancient practice of transforming base matter into gold. But in his hands, transformation is never clean or magical. It is slow, heavy, imperfect. He doesn’t hide decay, he works with it. In other words, his art is not just about images. It is about matter itself - and what matter remembers. |
How does it relate to the here and now? or What to say during casual conversation to show off your art knowledge?
The Weight of Transformation – “I once read that Kiefer works with lead because, in alchemy, it’s the lowest metal, the one you’re supposed to transform into gold. And I love that in “Book with Wings” he gives that heavy material wings. It’s like he’s saying transformation isn’t about becoming lighter or forgetting the past. It’s about carrying the weight and still trying to rise.”
Now have another Look!
And If You’re Up for More…
Monumental concrete towers, cracked, leaning, almost collapsing - installed permanently inside the vast industrial halls of the Pirelli Hangar Bicocca in Milan. These fragile structures feel like archaeological ruins from the future, inviting visitors to walk between them.
Opening this April at the Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero (CAHH)- Valencia, Spain, the upcoming exhibition presents large-scale works that combine lead, concrete, and organic materials. Installed within the museum’s restored historic building, the show offers a powerful encounter with Kiefer’s ongoing dialogue between destruction and transformation, matter and memory.
Till next time, Sometimes transformation isn’t about turning lead into gold. Sometimes it’s just about seeing things differently. If this piece shifted something for you - if a memory took on a new meaning, if a thought changed shape, if something heavy felt slightly different - I’d genuinely love to hear. hit reply or drop me a comment.
Yours,
Inbal Z M
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