Bas Jan Ader: Suspended Between Laughter and Tears (2010)

A catalogue to accompany an exhibition of video, photography, installations and archived materials from the estate of the late Dutch-born and California-based conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader, who is assumed to have perished at sea in 1975.

“Ader’s work centers on short-duration acts of physical and emotional release. In the noted film and subsequent photographs titled I’m Too Sad to Tell You (1971), the artist is seen crying directly into the camera amplifying a simple human emotion – grief – into a profound and revelatory experience. Ader also makes use of the force of gravity as a medium in his performance work, as documented in film and photography. His videos, in many respects, bear an explicit physicality, which are the hallmark of many silent films. Other projects, including the unfinished trilogy In Search of the Miraculous (1975), during which the artist disappeared, stretch the boundaries of sentimentalism through existential journey.

Ader frequently referenced Dutch artistic and cultural traditions in his work. Photographs such as On the road to a new Neo Plasticism, Westkapelle, Holland (1971) reveal his interest in Mondrian and the De Stijl movement, which sought simplified compositions to express a utopian harmony. Dutch landscape and still life painting traditions can be seen in videos such as Primary Time (1974), in which he arranges and rearranges a red, blue and yellow bouquet of flowers, and in photographs like Farewell to Faraway Friends (1971), where the artist casts himself as a romantic wanderer – linking himself to the paintings of 19th century German artist Caspar David Friedrich – but ultimately setting the tone for his physical acts of searching.” (sourced from the exhibition website)

Curated by Pilar Tompkins Rivas. Includes interviews with Ader’s widow, Mary Sue Anderson, and essays by Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Andrew Berardini, and Ciara Ennis.

Edited by Kira Poplowski
Publisher Pitzer College, 2010
ISBN 9780982995600
69 pages
HT cesar, via publisher

Publisher

PDF (3 MB, updated on 2023-5-13)

See also selected works (1970-71) of Ader on UbuWeb.