Ronald Bladen with Untitled (Riff), Fischbach Gallery, New York, 1967
A second monumental scale version of this work exists in Saudi Arabia at King Saud University. 8 Thanks to Bill Jensen and Margrit Lewczuk who pointed out in conversation that Bladen loved to dance and privately (and humorously) referred to Host of the Ellipse as he and his wife dancing. 9 Corinne Robins, “The Artist Speaks: Ronald Bladen,” p. 78 and p. 79. 10 For a discussion of Bladen’s working process, see Douglas Drieshspoon, “Making the Inside the Outside,” in Ronald Bladen: Drawings and Sculptural Models, exh. cat. (Greensboro, North Carolina: Weatherspoon Art Gallery): 35. 11 Dean Fleming, “Interview: Ronald Bladen,” Ocular 4, No. 4 (Winter 1981): 12. Speaking of the question of scale, Bladen stated: “Economics enter into the picture someplace, too. Economically, right now, we are getting into a position where it’s going to be difficult to finance large-scale works, and it may be so for quite some time. The flowering of public art in the last 15 years has been fantastic, and that public thrust has been because of government supported it.” 12 Berkson, p. 10-11. 7
invites one to walk around to see and understand the complete form. Black Lightning (1981) which may be familiar to some viewers as a smaller version of a work installed in the Seattle Center Sculpture Garden in Seattle, Washington, is a singular, black form that projects a linear image of something like a bolt of lightning.7 Though Bladen often took inspiration from natural phenomenon, the reference to nature here is more direct than in most of his sculptures. But even here, the image is abstracted into an iconic shape that is more about a dynamic force expressed by jagged forms, a forceful diagonal thrust, and a sense of speed suggested by the linearity and tapering shape. These traits are reinforced in the gallery installation by the confined interior space of the room against which the work seems to resist. In Host of the Ellipse (1981), Bladen has separated two black forms in space; shapes that echo each other but are not the same. Again, angular, tapered forms are used here but it is the interaction of the forms with the space between then that creates the sense of energy almost like dancers caught in time.8 The surfaces, painted with a semi-gloss paint, are slightly reflective adding a play of light and dark to the contrasts of form and space. Host of the Ellipse also exists in monumental form. Considered by Bladen, “a once-in-alifetime commission” because of the site and
financial support offered for this work, the sculpture sits by a government building in Baltimore. In this location, the monumental forms set a relationship between themselves that is echoed in that of the surrounding architecture and rolling hills. Though Bladen was clearly oriented towards large scale, outdoor commissions during this phase of his work, he made his sculptures in three scales referred to as maquettes, garden size models and monumental works. Originally, in the late 1960s, he fabricated full-scale models of his works in wood. These wood structures were the sculptures exhibited in the galleries. Despite their large size, Bladen built them himself; he constructed them in parts in his studio, or if his studio was too small, in borrowed locations or on the exhibition site, if time permitted. Though not visible, these structures have intricate interior, wooden frameworks within them to support the painted plywood surfaces. And though Bladen might work out details in drawings along the way, he did not begin by making preliminary drawings. In 1969, he described his process as starting in bed where he worked out a piece — the structure, the engineering, safety issues, etc. — in his head. Then he would enter the studio and start making what he referred to as “jigs” — the wooden skeletons — that became like drawings to visualize and work out any kinks
in his design. The process also allowed him to respond to specific situations — a crooked floor, low ceiling, or whatever — that came up along the way. In this way too, Bladen was able to maintain “the kind of mastery or authority” over the work that he preferred.9 When Bladen began getting more public commissions in the early 1970s, his process changed a bit.10 He began making models in two scales — maquette size and garden size (expanding the maquette from 1” to 1’) — that could be presented to or photographed for proposals for large-scale sculptures. The monumental works were made three times the size of the garden scale works. He also began exploring new forms that may or may not have become monumental works in the maquettes and models. Drawing too took on a more formative role in construction of his works. The artist kept all the models that he built himself; when a work was sold, a fabrication was made. And when three buyers stepped up to buy Three Elements (1966), Bladen’s work that was included in the famous Primary Structures exhibition at the Jewish Museum in 1966, Bladen began fabricating his works in editions of three. After Bladen’s death, many of the wooden prototypes that the artist had made were acquired by the well-known collector Egidio Marzona and are currently on permanent loan to the Staatliche Museem in Berlin. The works available from the editions of three in each size stayed in Bladen’s estate. By the mid 80’s, perhaps partially in response to the difficulties and pressures inherent working on government supported public sculpture was sculpture, Bladen’s work began to change.11 Again, drawing inspiration from nature, in this case the reflections of sunlight on water, he began mounting “jig-like” structures on the wall that supported sheets of aluminum flashing that reflected and refracted beams of light.12 He continued to make these works until his death in 1988. And while quite elegant and beautiful in there own right, they are quite different from the grand gestures of Bladen’s work made between 1966 and 1983. The Sculptural work made from this period has had the greatest historical impact and left the greatest legacy. n