Object VIII 1968

Romul Nutiu created this ‘Object VIII’ and I'm imagining that he might have been listening to music or the radio while making it, or maybe he was just thinking about how different shapes can relate to each other. This piece really plays with the vertical, doesn't it? There's a solid base, and then these upright forms that stretch upwards. Some are thick and sturdy, while others are thin and almost delicate. It's like he's taken apart some kind of familiar object and reconfigured it in a new way. There's a rhythm to how they are placed. I can imagine Nutiu looking at it, maybe moving the pieces slightly, trying different arrangements until it felt just right. I wonder what other artists he was looking at at the time? Were there other sculptors or painters who were also playing with form and space in similar ways? It's fascinating to think about how artists are always in conversation with each other, even across time and continents.