Beneath the Surface: Visiting Jordi Bonet’s The Fathomless Richness of the Seabed
/
Recently, Bruce Walther and I made a special trip downtown to visit a remarkable ceramic mural I had heard about for years but never experienced in person: The Fathomless Richness of the Seabed by Spanish-born Canadian artist Jordi Bonet.
Located inside the lobby of Guinness Tower in downtown Vancouver, the mural spans an enormous wall surface and immediately pulls you into another world—one made of texture, rhythm, movement, erosion, tide, and memory.
What struck me first was not just the scale, but the physicality of it.
The mural is deeply textural and feels incredibly alive up close. Ceramic forms protrude from the surface like underwater currents, organisms, shells, rocks, coral formations, and ancient markings. Some areas feel geological. Others feel oceanic or cellular. The piece shifts constantly depending on where you stand.
As artists currently developing concepts for the CHEO public art project, Bruce and I specifically wanted to study the execution of the work—how Bonet handled relief, transitions, rhythm, repetition, and surface tension across such a monumental installation.
And honestly, seeing it in person was inspiring.
Photographs really don’t capture the dimensionality of this piece.
According to the City of Vancouver Public Art Registry, the mural was installed in 1969 and was created to echo “the relationship between the building and its environment,” drawing inspiration from the seabed and underwater life. Bonet described being inspired by “textures and reliefs” such as rippling sand, sponges, and underwater currents.
I especially loved the way the mural balances chaos and structure simultaneously.
There are moments of intricate patterning beside areas that feel completely intuitive and raw. Some sections appear carefully composed, while others feel almost excavated or discovered. That balance is something I think many abstract artists are continually exploring—how to allow spontaneity and control to coexist in the same visual language.
Another unexpected delight?
The lobby itself.
It has this calm mid-century atmosphere that makes you want to stay awhile. If you’re downtown Vancouver and need a quiet place to meet a friend, study, work on a laptop, or simply sit with inspiring art for a while, this is honestly a beautiful hidden spot in the city.
I left feeling grateful that works like this exist in public-facing spaces.
They remind us that texture matters.
Material matters.
Scale matters.
And that art integrated into architecture can profoundly shape how a space feels.
Thank you, Jordi Bonet.
And thank you to the people who continue to preserve and care for works like this for future generations of artists to experience.
Learn more about the mural through the City of Vancouver Public Art Registry and read more about the history of Guinness Tower and its modernist architecture at the Vancouver Heritage Foundation.
