One of my favourite pieces on display at the MOMA in NYC, at the entrance of the special exhibition In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960–1976 is a still from Bas Jan Ader’s I’m Too Sad To Tell You (1971). Jan Ader worked in conceptual arts many facets including film, installation, performance and photography. Much of his work played on suspension, emotion, irony and illusion. It is haunting and mesmerising. 

Jan Ader’s final work of art was his own disappearance in 1975, when he embarked on what he called “a very long sailing trip.” It was part of a triptych, ‘In Search of the Miraculous’, and was his attempt to cross the Atlantic in a 12.5ft sailboat. Six months after his departure the boat was found half submerged off the coast of Ireland. His greatest act of suspension and, ultimately, commentary on the fragility of life. 

In January 2010 Bas Jan Ader: Suspended Between Laughter and Tears will open at The Claremont Museum of Art in California. 

Rene Daalder’s film Here Is Always Somewhere Else about the life and work of Bas Jan Ader was released last year. Watch the trailer here.