Dutch-born Bas Jan Ader (1942-1975) has emerged in the last decade as one of the most fascinating and mythologized artists of the 1960s and 70s. Though he produced relatively little work during his short life, his performance films, photographs, and installations have had an enduring impact on younger generations of artists. Ader settled in southern California in the 1960s, sharing affinities with contemporaries, such as Chris Burden and John Baldessari. His interest in enacting strategic failures, falls, and breakdowns offers a uniquely melodramatic and fragile form of body/action art. Since his death, Ader??™s work has been revisited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries internationally.

At Anthology Film Archives