Nickel Construction 1921

László Moholy-Nagy made this construction out of nickel at an undetermined date. It's all hard edges and smooth surfaces, but that looping ribbon steals the show, right? It feels like a gesture, a sketch lifted off the page and made solid. I love thinking about how materials shift meaning. Here, nickel, usually industrial, becomes almost playful. The way the light bounces off those curves, it's like a dance. That rectangle at the bottom—it grounds the whole piece but also throws it off balance with that dark, eye-shaped void. I keep wondering what would happen if I touched it. Moholy-Nagy was always experimenting. This piece reminds me of some of Brancusi’s sculptures, but with a Bauhaus twist. It's like he's saying, "Art doesn't have to be one thing." It can be hard, soft, serious, funny—all at once. And that’s what keeps me looking.