View source for Bas Jan Ader

{{Short description|Dutch conceptual and performance artist}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Bas Jan Ader
| image              = Bas Jan Ader at his MFA exhibition "Implosion" Claremont, CA 1967.jpg
| caption            = Ader at his MFA exhibition ''Implosion'', Claremont Graduate University, 1967
| birth_name         = Bastiaan Johan Christiaan Ader
| birth_date         = 19 April 1942
| birth_place        = [[Winschoten]], Netherlands
| disappeared_date   = c. July-August 1975 (aged 33)
| disappeared_place  = [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic Ocean]]
| nationality        = Dutch
| education          = {{ubl|[[Claremont Graduate University]]|[[Otis College of Art and Design]]}}
| known for          = Photography, film, video, performance and installation
| movement           = [[Conceptual art]]
| notable works      = ''[[I'm too sad to tell you]]''
| spouse             = Mary Sue Ader-Andersen
}}

'''Bastiaan Johan Christiaan "Bas Jan" Ader''' (19 April 1942&nbsp;– disappeared 1975) was a Dutch conceptual and performance artist, and photographer.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Wolfs|editor1-first=Rein|editor1-link=Biography|title=Please don't leave me|date=2006|publisher=Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen|location=Rotterdam|isbn=978-90-6918-216-2|page=172|edition=1st - English}}</ref> His work was in many instances presented as photographs and film of his performances. He made performative installations, including ''Please Don't Leave Me'' (1969).

Ader was lost at sea in 1975, attempting to cross the [[Atlantic Ocean]] from the American coast to England sailing in a thirteen-foot sailboat. His deserted vessel was found off the coast of Ireland on 18 April  1976, offering few clues as to his fate.<ref name="Here">Rene Daalder. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqJTellOG3I "Here is Always Somewhere Else: The Disappearance of Bas Jan Ader"] (2007 documentary)</ref>

==Early life and education==
Born on 19 April 1942, Ader grew up in Drieborg, a small village in the Dutch province of [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]]. His parents were both [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] ministers. His father was executed in 1944 by the [[Nazism|Nazis]] for his large scale endeavors to help Jewish compatriots to escape [[the Holocaust]].{{fact|date=July 2024}}

During adolescence, Ader took art classes at the [[Gerrit Rietveld Academie|Gerrit Rietveld Academy]] in [[Amsterdam]], and later in the United States during a study abroad program. Ader graduated from the [[Otis College of Art and Design]] in 1965 with a [[Bachelor of Fine Arts|BFA]], and from the [[Claremont Graduate University]] in 1967. After graduating, he taught at various institutions, including [[Mt. San Antonio College]], [[Immaculate Heart College]], and the [[University of California, Irvine]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bas Jan Ader- Brad Spence, et al.-UCI University Art Gallery|url=http://uag.arts.uci.edu/catalogue/bas-jan-ader-brad-spence-et-al-uci-university-art-gallery|website=UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts|access-date=18 July 2017}}</ref>

==Works==
Ader created a handful of photographs as well as several short black-and-white films in which he is the sole performer.<ref name="TelegraphReview">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3652223/The-artist-who-sailed-to-oblivion.html|title=The artist who sailed to oblivion - Telegraph|last=Richard Dorment|date=9 May 2006|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=4 July 2014}}</ref>

One of his most famous works, ''[[I'm too sad to tell you]]'', consists of a 3-minute silent black-and-white movie of him crying, several photographs (long hair and short hair versions) and a post card mailed to his friends with the inscription "I'm too sad to tell you".<ref>Cindy Loehr.[http://www.collectiveexperience.org/cindy/ader.html "Bas Jan Ader: Retrospective"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928140642/http://www.collectiveexperience.org/cindy/ader.html |date=2020-09-28 }}, New Art Examiner, March 2000; accessed 8 April 2015.</ref><ref name=Doyle>Jennifer Doyle.[https://books.google.com/books?id=j-8DAwAAQBAJ&q=%22I%27m+too+sad+to+tell+you%22&pg=PT85 ''Hold it Against Me: Difficulty and Emotion in Contemporary Art''], Duke University Press, 12 March 2013.</ref><ref name=Heiser>Jörg Heiser. [http://www.artandresearch.org.uk/v2n1/heiser.html "All of a Sudden: Things that Matter in Contemporary Art"], artandresearch.org.uk (Summer 2008).</ref> Other films include him sitting on a chair on a pitched roof until he falls, one where he is hanging on a branch until his grip gives out and he falls into a stream, and a film in which he rides his bike into a canal.<ref name="TelegraphReview"/>

In 1969–70 he anonymously published the satirical conceptual art magazine ''Landslide'' with his friend [[William Leavitt (artist)|William Leavitt]].  The magazine featured "interviews" with nonexistent artists, such as "Brian Shitart", and pranks such as "expandable sculpture" which was five [[Foam peanut|packing peanuts]] in an envelope. Although satirical of conceptual art, the magazine itself is considered a work of conceptual art.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OZhNRP-wfkAC&pg=PA272 Gwen Allen "Artists' Magazines: An Alternative Space for Art"], MIT Press at books.google.com; accessed 8 April 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.margoleavingallery.com/assets/uploaded/articles/leavitt_artus.pdf Erik Bluhm, "Minimalism's Rubble: On William Leavitt's and Bas Jan Ader's Landslide (1969-70), ''ArtUS''], November 2005, pp. 14-17.</ref>

In 1973 he made the work 'In search of the miraculous (One night in Los Angeles)', a series of photographs showing a lonely figure wandering through the night in L.A, searching everywhere with a flashlight. It was the first part of a [[triptych]]. The second part would be the record of his Atlantic crossing (see below), the third part a similar night time search somewhere in the Netherlands, again to be recorded in a series of photographs.
He had arranged for a choir to sing [[sea shanties]] at a gallery in Los Angeles before his departure from [[Cape Cod]]. A similar performance was planned upon his arrival in a museum in [[Groningen]], Netherlands.
Due to his loss at sea, the triptych was never completed.<ref name="TelegraphReview"/> The title "In Search of the Miraculous" was a reference to [[P.D. Ouspensky]]'s mystical book ''[[In Search of the Miraculous]]''.<ref>Constance Lewallen and Phong Bui. [http://www.brooklynrail.org/2013/07/art/constance-lewallen-with-phong-bui "InConversation"], BrooklynRail.org, 5 July 2013.</ref>

==Disappearance==
On 9 July 1975, Ader set off from [[Cape Cod]] in the U.S. state of [[Massachusetts]] in a {{convert|13|ft|m|abbr=on}} modified "Guppy 13" [[pocket cruiser]] named ''Ocean Wave'', to make his [[Single-handed sailing|single-handed]] west–east crossing of the [[North Atlantic]]. He estimated that the voyage should take him some two and a half months. His unmanned boat was found on 18 April 1976, nine months after he had set sail, [[ghost ship|floating]] nearly vertically in the water, bow down, 200 [[nautical mile]]s (360&nbsp;km) due west of [[Land's End]], 100 nautical miles SW of Ireland. ''Ocean Wave'' was found by Spanish fishermen who took her to [[A Coruña]] from where she was stolen somewhere between 18 May and 7 June 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hyperallergic.com/336146/in-search-of-bas-jan-ader-the-artist-who-disappeared-at-sea/ |title=In Search of Bas Jan Ader, the Artist Who Disappeared at Sea|date=30 November 2016 }} Hyperallergic, 30 November 2016</ref>

How Ader may have met his death is the source of much speculation. Sightings of him and his boat off the American East Coast and the [[Azores]] are unconfirmed. Ader was an accomplished sailor, having been one of a two-handed crew, sailing a yacht from Morocco to California in 1962–63. His brother Erik, an experienced ocean sailor, thinks that the fixed point on the boat to which his [[lifeline (safety)|lifeline]] was attached was ripped out when he fell overboard in heavy weather. His conclusion is based on interviews with people in Spain who saw his retrieved boat before it was stolen.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://new-documents.org/books/bas-jan-ader-discovery-file|title=Bas Jan Ader: Discovery File 143/76|author=Koos Dalstra, Marion van Wijk|publisher=New Documents|isbn=978-1-927354-10-0|access-date=8 April 2015|date=2017-09-26}}</ref>

==Exhibitions, reception and impact==
In 1961, Ader exhibited his works at three galleries in Washington DC<ref>{{cite book|author1=Erik Beenker|author-link1=The man who wanted to look beyond the horizon|editor1-last=Wolfs|editor1-first=Rein|title=Please don't leave me|date=2006|publisher=Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen|location=Rotterdam|isbn=978-90-6918-216-2|page=14|edition=1st}}</ref> and received a positive review in ''[[The Washington Post]]''.<ref name=wolfs14>Wolfs ed. 2006 p. 14</ref> He became a minor sensation, being interviewed by ''The Voice of America'' and by the press in his native Holland.<ref name=wolfs14 /> In 1967, he gained his Master of Fine Arts with his project ''Implosion'' at [[Claremont Graduate School]].<ref name="Wolfs ed. 2006, p. 159">Wolfs ed. 2006, p. 159</ref>

During his lifetime, Ader had solo exhibitions at the Chouinard Art School, Los Angeles (1970), the [[Benton Museum of Art|Pomona College Museum of Art]] (1972), and the galleries [[Art & Project]], Amsterdam (1972), [[:de:Kabinett für Aktuelle Kunst|Kabinett für Aktuelle Kunst]], Bremerhaven, Germany (1972, 1974) and the Claire S. Copley Gallery, blogs.getty.edu; accessed 8 April 2015.<ref name="Wolfs ed. 2006, p. 159"/>

Ader held a two-person exhibition with [[William Leavitt (artist)|William Leavitt]] at the [[Nova Scotia School of Art and Design]] (1972), a conceptual hotbed at the time, as well as a number of group exhibitions in Europe and the US with such artists as Leavitt, [[Ger van Elk]], [[Gilbert & George]], [[Jack Goldstein]], [[Allen Ruppersberg]], [[John Baldessari]], and [[Marcel Broodthaers]] among others. His work was also included in the important international survey exhibitions ''Prospekt '71: Projektion'' at the [[Kunsthalle Düsseldorf]] (1971), and ''Sonsbeek '71'', Groningen, Holland. (1971).<ref name="Wolfs ed. 2006 p.160">Wolfs ed. 2006, p. 160</ref>

Since his disappearance, Ader's work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at institutions worldwide including the [[Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam]] (1988), the [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]], Rotterdam (1993, 2006), [[Kunstverein München]], Munich (1994, 2000), [[Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris]] (1994), [[:de:Kunstverein Braunschweig|Kunstverein Braunschweig]], Germany (2000), [[Portikus]], Frankfurt (2003), and the [[Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo]], Mexico City (2004).{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

Ader's first retrospective in the United States took place in 1999 at the University of California, Irvine,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hainley|first1=Bruce|title=Legend of the Fall|journal=Artforum|date=March 1999|volume=XXXVII|issue=7|page=90}}</ref> and travelled to two other venues; the [[University of California, Santa Cruz|Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery]], University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Sweeney Art Gallery at the University of California, Riverside.  It was curated by Brad Spence<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140314134319/http://sweeney.ucr.edu/exhibitions/ader/index.html Sweeney Art Gallery Ader announcement]</ref> with a catalogue including contributions by [[Thomas E. Crow|Thomas Crow]], Jan Tumlir, and Spence. In 2006, [[Camden Arts Centre]], London held a European retrospective of his works which travelled to the [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]], Rotterdam and the Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland.<ref>[http://www.kunsthallebasel.ch/en Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland]</ref><ref name="Wolfs ed. 2006 p.160"/>

More recent solo exhibitions include In Search of the Miraculous: 30 Years Later,<ref>[http://cgac.xunta.es/EN/exposicion-detalle/9/in-search-of-the-miraculous-thirty-years-later#ad-image-0 In Search of the Miraculous: 30 Years Later]</ref> at [[:es:Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo|Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo]], Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2010), Suspended Between Laughter and Tears, Pitzer Art Galleries, [[Pitzer College]], Claremont CA (2010), which travelled to the Museo de Arte Zapopan, Mexico, and the artist's first Italian retrospective Tra Due Mondi,<ref>[http://www.mambo-bologna.org/files/documenti/archiviocomunicatiENG/PK_Bas%20Jan%20Ader_ENG.pdf Tra Due Mondi]</ref> [[Bologna Museum of Modern Art|MAMbo, Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna]], Bologna, Italy (2013). Metro Pictures, NYC, had a mini-survey of his work during summer 2016, as did Simon Lee Gallery in London.

Erika Yeomans' conceptual documentary ''In Search of Bas Jan's Miraculous'' (1998, 40 minutes, mixed media) on Ader's life and art was featured on ''[[This American Life]]'' in 1996.<ref>[http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/20/from-a-distance "From a Distance"], ''This American Life'', 27 December 1996</ref>

''[[Here Is Always Somewhere Else]]'' is a 2007 documentary film about the life and work of Ader. As seen through the eyes of fellow emigrant filmmaker [[Rene Daalder]], the picture becomes an overview of contemporary art films, featuring work from artists [[Tacita Dean]], [[Rodney Graham]], [[Marcel Broodthaers]], [[Ger van Elk]], [[Charles Ray (artist)|Charles Ray]], [[Wim T. Schippers]], [[Chris Burden]], [[Fiona Tan]], [[Pipilotti Rist]] and many others.

Ader was one of the invited artists of the 2017 57th [[Venice Biennale]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/exhibition/artists/ |title=La Biennale di Venezia - Artists |access-date=2015-03-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402121129/http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/exhibition/artists/ |archive-date=2015-04-02}}</ref>

In 2023, Ader was featured in a major retrospective exhibition at Meliksetian Briggs in Dallas curated by [[David Quadrini]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-31 |title=Dallas gallery offers a rare chance to see the art of Bas Jan Ader, who vanished in 1975 |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/visual-arts/2023/01/31/dallas-gallery-offers-a-rare-chance-to-see-the-art-of-bas-jan-ader-who-vanished-in-1975/ |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Dallas News |language=en}}</ref>

US band [[Bright Eyes (band)|Bright Eyes]] included a song named ‘Bas Jan Ader’ on their 2024 album ''[[Five Dice, All Threes]].''

==See also==
*[[Ger van Elk]]
*[[List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea]]

{{Portal bar|Arts|Netherlands}}

==References==
;Specific references
{{Reflist}}

;Other sources
* Jan Verwoert, ''Bas Jan Ader: In Search of the Miraculous'', London: Afterall Books, 2006; {{ISBN|1-84638-002-2}}.
* Maike Aden-Schraenen, ''In Search of Bas Jan Ader'', Berlin: Logos Verlag, 2013. {{ISBN|978-3-8325-2295-7}}.
* Alexander Dumbadze, ''Bas Jan Ader: Death Is Elsewhere'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-226-03853-7}}.

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1= Cortese
|first1= Davide|title= Fuori dalla libertà. Bas Jan Ader e i rituali dell'abbandono
|location=Milano
|publisher=EDB
|isbn=978-8-899887-13-1 |date=2017}}
* {{cite book |last1= Dalstra |first1= Koos |last2= Marion |first2= van Wijk |title= Bas Jan Ader: Discovery File 143/76 |location=Los Angeles |publisher=New Documents |isbn=978-1-927354-10-0 |date=2017}}
* {{cite book |last=Dumbadze |first=Alexander |title=Bas Jan Ader |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-03853-7 |date=2013}}
* {{cite journal|last=Wei |first=Lilly |date=May 2014 |title=Vanishing Artist |journal = Art in America |pages=57–60}}
* {{cite book |last=Ader-Appels |first=Johanna |title=House of Defiance. One family's stand against the Holocaust |location=Taunton |publisher=Mirador Publishing |isbn=978-1-911473-76-3 |date=2017}}
* {{cite journal |last=Saunders |first=Wade |date=February 2004 |title=In Dreams Begin Responsibilities |journal =  Art in America |pages=54–63}}
* {{cite book |last=Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen |title=Bas Jan Ader. Please don't leave me. Catalogue raisonné |location=Rotterdam |publisher=Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen |isbn=978-90-6918-216-2 |date=2006}}
* {{cite book|last1=Andriesse|first1=Paul|title=Bas Jan Ader. Kunstenaar/Artist|date=1988|publisher=Stichting Openbaar Kunstbezit|location=Amsterdam|isbn=978-90-6515-063-9}}

==External links==
*[http://www.basjanader.com Official Bas Jan Ader website]
*{{YouTube|967XGvT6agw|''I'm too sad to tell you''}}
*[<!--http://www.otis.edu/alumni/da/ader.htm-->https://web.archive.org/web/20130205074428/http://www.otis.edu/alumni/outstanding_alumni/bas_jan_ader.html Distinguished Alumni page] from the Otis College of Art and Design
*[http://collectie.boijmans.nl/en/search/?ds=list&creator=Bas%20Jan%20Ader#results Nine artworks by Bas Jan Ader] in the online collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, with images, and descriptions.

{{Performance art}}
{{ACArt}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ader, Bas Jan}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:1970s missing person cases]]
[[Category:20th-century Dutch artists]]
[[Category:Dutch conceptual artists]]
[[Category:Dutch contemporary artists]]
[[Category:Dutch performance artists]]
[[Category:Dutch photographers]]
[[Category:Artists from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Claremont Graduate University alumni]]
[[Category:Dutch expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Otis College of Art and Design alumni]]
[[Category:People from Winschoten]]
[[Category:People declared dead in absentia]]
[[Category:People lost at sea]]