motel de moka

A couple of months ago I was watching a documentary about a Dutch artist still unknown to me at that time. Ever since seeing this documentary I’ve been fascinated by his work and his life. Bas Jan Ader, born in the Netherlands in 1942, was a performance artist, filmmaker and photographer who lived in Los Angeles for most of his career. His work was obsessed with sadness, searching, loss and falling. For example, one of his more well-known works is a film called “I’m too sad to tell you” (1971) in which he simply cries in front of the camera. This sense of sadness and loss is maybe best portrayed by one of his writings:

“The sea, the land, the artist has with great sadness known they too will be no more.”

In Search of the Miraculous
Bas Jan Ader, 1975

Ader was a romanticist and he fully dedicated his life to his art and his ongoing search for acknowledgement. But practically everything he did, failed in one way or another. He constantly disappointed himself and almost seemed to make fun of that fact all throughout his work, still without ever losing his sincerity. For instance, not only did he appear to re-enact melodrama by simply crying in front of a camera but he also printed stills from that film as postcards for people to mail to others. This fine line between what is real and what is manipulated without losing sincerity is where my fascination with Ader lies. It was not so much his work itself that was significant but more the relationship between his life and his art. He was the subject of his own art and was exploring the boundaries between them.

Although he was part of the Los Angeles art scene from 1963 to 1975, he has left us very little work and extraordinarily enough most of it was actually made in just one weekend. In 1975 Ader started his last work of performance art. He attempted to cross the Atlantic alone in a small sailing-boat. This work was the second part of a planned trilogy called “In Search of the Miraculous”. His plan was to document and exhibition his journey through film, photography and diaries. He never reaches his destination. Three weeks after he left shore, radio contact broke and Ader disappeared without a trace. His body has never been found but his boat was recovered heavily damaged six months later.

What really struck me about Ader was his ongoing search. It was as if he wanted to express a certain feeling or emotion but never quite managed to find the right words or images. No matter how many times he failed or how misunderstood he was, he was always determined to share his own unique vision.

In some way the life and work of Bas Jan Ader moved me the same way as Arthur Russell’s music did. I was startled at first to realize this but soon it seemed like a natural comparison. Arthur Russell, born in 1952 in Oskaloosa, Iowa, was a classically trained cellist and composer with a background in Indian classical music. He performed with artists like Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass but in addition he was a disco artist making upbeat dance and pop music. Throughout his musical career he seemed obsessed with reverb and echo. No matter how diversely his music may appear on first encounter, there is always the distinct shadow of Arthur himself towering over his work. He had the ability to create a unique, musical effect that was completely undetermined by genre or structure.

Arthur Russell
Photo: Tom Lee/Audika Records LLC

Bas Jan Ader and Arthur Russell, both developing their signature trademarks throughout the early 70s, shared their passionate search for new ways of expression. Constantly looking for the most effective way of articulating a certain feeling or emotion through art. Both were unconventional in every way they approached their search and came up with efforts that were ungraspable for others at that time, yet to themselves seemed like the only natural thing to do. Bas Jan Ader felt that he would find what he was looking for on his own at the middle of the Atlantic. Arthur Russell envisioned a 48-hour musical cycle which was to accompany the art of Yuko Nonomura and started recording “Instrumentals”. Unfortunately he never managed to finish this project. Whatever both were trying to express, they would try anything to do so as effectively as possible.

Once said about Arthur Russell and which I think is fitting for both him and Ader:
“His songs were so personal that it seems as though he simply vanished into his music.”

Two of my favourite works of Arthur Russell come from his albums “First Thought Best Thought” (which documents fractured pieces of the above mentioned “Instrumentals”) and “Another Thought”. “Instrumentals 1” is, as one would expect considering his ambitions for this project, a piece that could run into eternity. An elegant and constantly moving piece that recalls the shimmering and transparent glow of a bright, early morning. “A Little Lost” is where Arthur Russell uses his distinctive voice and cello to portray a feeling of sadness yet with a cheerful wink, again recalling some of the work of Bas Jan Ader.

Arthur Russell - Instrumentals Vol. 1
(First Thought Best Thought, 2006)

Arthur Russell - A Little Lost
(Another Thought, 1994)

Sadly, in 1992 Arthur Russell died of AIDS. And although he was getting some reasonable attention throughout his career in different environments, it is only now with several compilations and reissues being released that he is slowly getting the acknowledgement he actually deserves. Yet another thing he seems to have in common with Bas Jan Ader. In 2007 a documentary will be released about the remarkable life of Arthur Russell. There’s a link to the teaser trailer at the bottom of this post.

After all, twenty-five minutes dedicated to both artists:

1. Philip Glass – Violin Concerto: II
2. Loren Connors – Along the Way
3. Geoff Mullen – Untitled 2
4. Hisato Higuchi – Himitsu
5. Arthur Russell – Our Last Night Together
6. Machinefabriek – Blaadjes in Plaats van Sneeuw

Upcoming Arthur Russell Documentary
Teaser trailer