March 5, 2011 - Black Lightning

Ronald Bladen's (1918-1988) minimalist Black Lightning, a 60 foot long 24 foot high painted metal sculpture installed at the base of the Space Needle in 1981, contrasts sharply to the fusion of colors, shapes and textures present in the Frank Gehry designed Experience Music Project in the background.

Mr. Bladen is viewed as one of the cool fathers of "Minimalism".  He wanted his signature works to have presence and his signature was massive black forms that had an air of light, speed and weightlessness.  Mr. Bladen was born in Vancouver, BC, and lived, for part of his childhood in Hoquiam and Aberdeen, Washington.  During WWII he worked in the dockyards as a toolmaker, which helped to support his painting.  It wasn't until the 1960s that he began working as a sculpture, utilizing the skills he learned at the dockyards.