Ronald Bladen: Sculpture Book

"One of the characteristics, I think, of all my pieces is that they have a front and they have a back. They seem very human to me -- they always do. In much abstract sculpture it does not matter where you see it from but I want my pieces read in sequence: you see them from the front first, then around, and the back is another identity". "The white and black are philosophically opposed. The white of the inside of the piece is -- well -- it's acceptance, it's love, it's gentle, it's very moving; and the black becomes slightly forbidding -- totally different in experience". "The curve was just worked out by eye. It was not drawn: it was simply laid out on the floor and it seemed a very nice curve and that was it. As you approach the piece -- as you are drawn into it -- you find there is really nothing for the eye to relate to except for an expanse of light that's involving you. And there is the quality of flowing into the piece and not quite being able to determine where the piece begins or stops. You reach a point of stillness in the white..". "Going around the black outside is really very nice because it is disappearing in front of your eyes. You can only see a little bit of it at a time, and it takes quite a long while to walk around. And the other interesting thing is that the back is the same template curve as the front, though the structure is different -- that's hard to realize because the experience of walking on the outside is so different".