''Black Sun'' is a 1969 sculpture by

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist, furniture designer and Landscape architecture, landscape architect whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Grah ...

located in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington's Volunteer Park. The statue is situated on the eastern edge of the park's man-made reservoir, across from the

Seattle Asian Art Museum The Seattle Asian Art Museum (often abbreviated to SAAM) is a museum of Asian art at Volunteer Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Part of the Seattle Art Museum, the SAAM exhibits historic and contem ...

. The view from the sculpture includes the

Space Needle The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city, it has been designated a List of Seattle landmarks, Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen An ...

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus (Washington), Mount Olympus is the high ...

, and

Elliott Bay Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s ...

. Many mistakenly believe

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

's hit single "

Black Hole Sun "Black Hole Sun" is a song by American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, the song was released in May 1994 by A&M Records as the third single from the band's fourth studio album, '' Superunknown'' (1994). Considered to b ...

" was inspired by Noguchi's sculpture, as the band took their name from another outdoor public art work in Seattle, '' A Sound Garden'', and the resemblance of the song's title to Noguchi's work. However, singer-songwriter

Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell ( Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and the primary lyricist for the rock music, rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a ...

attributes the song's inspiration to a misheard news broadcast.

References

External links

Official Noguchi siteSeattle - Arts - Public Art - Parks

''Black Sun'', (sculpture)
at the Smithsonian Institution 1969 establishments in Washington (state) 1969 sculptures Outdoor sculptures in Capitol Hill, Seattle Granite sculptures in Washington (state) Sun in art {{public-art-stub

See also

References

External links