Rosa Kacheln (Pink Tiles) (1977–80) by Thomas Schütte (b. 1954, Oldenburg) is a wall-based installation comprising 246 rectangular pieces of painted plastic that describe three vertical shapes reminiscent of ancient Greek columns. The tiles sit on nails rather than being fixed directly to the wall, giving the installation a provisional feel that is at odds with the monumentality of the shape it depicts. Created when Schütte was studying painting at the Dusseldorf Academy of Art, the work is one of a number of installations the artist made with tiles between 1977–90, which are also his first works in sculpture, the medium for which he is now best known. Schütte researched masonry and made a number of abstract and figurative drawings in which he tested how to position the 'bricks' in order to create a realistic representation of a wall. This preparatory process is indicative of the artist's interest in craftsmanship and 'decoration', making art 'with your hands and body... the virtual does not interest me at all', he has said. 'A scratch in a copperplate, a fingerprint in clay, or burnt polystyrene: that's what I like. Precisely the kind of things that were forbidden in our college days: the artist's mark, finger, body, something individual.'