was a Dutch born artist who worked with video, photo, and performance/happenings. Though his choice of media relates him to many artists of his time, his work is more universally accessible because of its dealings with laymen’s verbal play. While Donald Judd and Richard Serra are showcasing at the Whitney’s “When Attitude becomes form” exhibition, Ader employed these new forms without making work whose primary concern was the novelty of its execution. There is something egalitarian about his pieces because they play on common phrases or ideas. You do not need to study any history or art in order to appreciate Ader’s work. What you do need is familiarity with the idioms and verbal constructions he plays on. Because of how literally he takes and uses these phrases, Ader’s work is both surprising and fresh. His art is his ability to subvert the expectation of his audience. Ader is able to snap the viewer, if only for a second, out of and away from his/her typical mode of humdrum mundane thought processes. In this way, his project is not unlike Malevich’s though his means are almost opposite. Still, that is not to say that Ader does not push the boundaries of form. He died while working on a piece called “In search of the Miraculous” which was in part comprised of a voyage on a 12-foot sailboat from Cape Cod mass across the Atlantic. What was inspiring about Bas Jan Ader’s work was his ability to produce pieces that were relevant to both high art culture while maintaining their accessibility to low (popular) culture.
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