Bas Jan Ader

02/09/2026

11/12/2025

Snapshot of an early work on paper by Bas Jan Ader featured in the recent Hamburger Kunsthalle retrospective… That show will travel to North America in 2026 - keep following for up to date news…

Untitled (Drawing of an angel) c.1961
Ink and gouache on paper
23 x 17 in / 60 x 45 cm paper size

Contact for more available works on paper

08/21/2025

Detail views of Bas Jan Ader's sculptural installation Light vulnerable objects threatened by eight cement bricks, 1970 currently at the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

The installation features eight cement cinder blocks suspended precariously above eight fragile objects including flowers, pillows, a birthday cake, a string of lightbulbs and an oil painting among others, creating a sense of imminent danger and tension, culminating in a performance where the ropes are cut, allowing the blocks to crush the objects below...



Photos: Fred Dott Courtesy of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

08/18/2025

Review of the Hamburger Kunsthalle retrospective I’m searching… in Art in America by Eugenie Brinkema.

08/16/2025

Bas Jan Ader on the Ocean Wave fifty years ago just off the coast of Chatham, MA embarking on the second part of his trilogy In search of the miraculous.

Photo by Mary Sue Ader Andersen.



Photo: © The Estate of Bas Jan Ader / Mary Sue Ader Andersen, 2025 / The Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.

08/12/2025

Visit Artsy for a special viewing room commemorating the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Ocean Wave...

08/11/2025

A selection of early Bas Jan Ader works on paper from circa 1959-1962 known as the Dreiborg Portfolio shown for the first time in the retrospective I'm searching... at the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

Ader was a prodigy having his first three exhibitions in Washington DC area in 1961 at the age of 19 at the Upstairs Gallery, Galerie Realité and the Capitol Hill Community for Fine Arts. It was said that Jackie Kennedy bought a work from one of these shows. These works were made around that time.

Ader's Opera Prima, critic and curator, Pedro de Llano writes in the catalog that accompanies the Hamburg show "these early drawings must be seen as...the authentic and thematic roots of the work that Ader would develop as a conceptual artist."



Photos: Fred Dott Courtesy of Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

08/07/2025

In The Boy Who Fell Over Niagara Falls, 1972 Ader reads aloud true Reader’s Digest story about a seven-year-old boy who survives a fall over Niagara Falls, pausing to sip water after each line. The act of sipping water mimics the waterfall’s flow, symbolically aligning Ader with the boy’s precarious journey.

This performance ties directly to his recurring theme of falling: the boy’s unintended plunge mirrors Ader’s staged falls, but the narrative of survival introduces a tension between peril and resilience. The repetitive act of drinking water becomes a ritualistic gesture, blending the mundane with the profound, much like Ader’s other works where simple actions carry existential weight.

The piece also reflects Ader’s fascination with romanticism and the sublime. Niagara Falls, a natural wonder, evokes awe and danger, aligning with his interest in pitting human vulnerability against overwhelming forces. By engaging with a popular, sentimental story, Ader juxtaposes high art with mass culture, a subtle critique of narrative consumption, while the act of reading aloud personalizes the story, making it a meditation on survival and loss. The documented formats—photographs, video, and the 1992 artist’s book—preserve the ephemeral performance, a recurring strategy in Ader’s work to anchor fleeting acts in tangible records.

Installed in a very creative way at the Hamburger Kunsthalle retrospective I'm searching...by Dr Brigitte Kölle and Julia Kerstner her curatorial assistant. The original water glass that Ader used in the performance is shown alongside the video and vitrine in its own vitrine (last image).

The work has been performed a number of times including at Kabinett für Aktuelle Kunst, Bermerhaven, art & project, Amsterdam, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Ader's lifetime and recently at Grimm, Amsterdam and the Museé Transitoire in Paris...



Photos: Fred Dott, Courtesy of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

07/05/2025

On July 9, 2025, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bas Jan Ader’s departure from Cape Cod, where he embarked on the second chapter of his epic artistic trilogy, In search of the miraculous.

Ader is shown preparing the Ocean Wave for the ill fated voyage in this image made 50 years ago today.



Photo: Mary Sue Ader Andersen. ©️The Estate of Bas Jan Ader / Mary Sue Ader Andersen 2025 / The Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. All rights reserved.