Three Elements

Ronald Bladen’s three structures of painted and burnished aluminum over welded steel have been mainstays at the Museum since 1988. Bladen fabricated this sculpture in the mid-1960s, a time when the minimalist aesthetic was gaining in widespread appeal. Yet, while minimalism sought to distill art to its most essential forms and rid it of emotion and symbolism, Bladen’s tilted, precariously balanced trio is not entirely devoid of suggestion. The sculpture may bring to mind a band of walking or dramatically leaning figures, or a procession of majestic monoliths on the march, whose falling forward has been suspended at the last moment before collapse — an unsettling equilibrium. *Three Elements* was originally in the Museum courtyard, where the sculpture *Lunar Bird* can be found today. While in the courtyard, the structures were popular among Museum visitors and Park-goers — and skateboarders loved them, too, less for their artistic value and more so for their smooth surfaces and ramp-like angles. The sculpture now resides in a decidedly less-skateboard-friendly area, where it can be appreciated by everyone.