[1] His artistic stance, was influenced by European Constructivism, American Hard-Edge Painting, and sculptors such as Isamu Noguchi and David Smith.

[2] Bladen in turn had stimulating effect on a circle of younger artists including Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt and others, who repeatedly referred to him as one of the 'father figures' of Minimal Art.

At ten years old Bladen began drawing intensively, making copies of works by Titian, Picasso and Matisse.

In 1960, he took over Al Held's studio at 5 West 21st Street, where he began to focus on making collages of folded paper and large scale plywood relief paintings.

[15] In 1966, Bladen showed a tripartite work made the previous year, Three Elements, at the exhibition, Primary Structures Younger American and British Artists, in the Jewish Museum in New York.

[16] Artists represented in the exhibition include Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Walter De Maria Robert Morris and others.

He was an Artist in Residence in 1981–82 at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (Maine), and in 1982–83 as a guest lecturer at Yale University in New Haven (Connecticut).