Let Go – Bas Jan Ader

Appreciation for the work of Bas Jan Ader (1942-1975) has only increased since his disappearance during a solo sailing journey on the Atlantic Ocean in 1975. Today he is considered to be one of the most significant Dutch artists of the twentieth century.

Marion van Wijk, artist/performer, has been researching Ader’s life and work for a number of years. Together with poet Koos Dalstra she has visited locations that were important to the conceptual artist during his life, such as Groningen where he was born, Los Angeles where he lived from 1962 to 1975 and Chatham (Cape Cod) from where he departed with his sailing boat. She has also spoken to family members, friends and colleague artists – such as Ger van Elk – who revealed many new facts. At the end of the book is an interview with Mary Sue Andersen, Ader’s widow, with who the author had close contact while writing the book. This has all created a wonderful result.

Not a factual biography of Ader, because there are quite a few gaps caused by his numerous travels, but it is a ‘biographic’ book in which images play an important role. Bas Jan Ader’s most significant work is presented in a separate section. Marion van Wijk was also involved in the VPRO documentary Here is always somewhere and the exhibition and catalogue Please don’t leave me (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), both about Bas Jan Ader.

Together with Koos Dalstra she published In Search of the Miraculous, 143/76, Bas Jan Ader, Discoveryfile, the Spanish marine report about Ader’s sailing boat.