Bas Jan Ader

Having heard rave reviews I was definitely going to go to this exhibition. My boyf read the review in the Guardian and looked not very interested but willing to go if I dragged him - so I took advantage of a mid-week day off work to go by myself, walking through leafy Hampstead to the Camden Arts Centre.
Now, I haven't been the the Camden Arts Centre for ages - I went a few times a few years ago and then I think it fell off my radar - but its a lovely space with a great feeling about it. And a nice walk to get there - although I could have done without the downpour of rain en route... that and the fact it was Wednesday may have contributed to the relative emptiness of the gallery - such a luxury to be the only person in a room!! Especially after recent trips to tates and National Gallery which felt like conveyer belts.
But anyway - the work itself was fascinating. I was a little apprehensive - 70s art always brings about a fear induced by seeing too many videos of 'body art' that are both banal and boring. Such work often seems very dated with its shock value and desire to challenge overwhelmed by the pace of time. Bas Jan Ader's work definitely meets the challenge of time.
Perhaps its because one can't escape the personal tragedy of his being lost at sea that his work is imbued with a quality of sadness and loss - but I think even without the facts of his life contributing to the way we see his work there is a strong emotional response, whether to the slapstick nature of his falling films - which have a real 'wince' quality, or to the photographs which include a self-portrait film still of Bas Jan crying (I'm too sad to tell you) as well as land/cityscapes which evoke a sense of emptiness, loss and a searching for something... The work is intelligent but most of all 'astonishing', in a way that all good art should seek to be. Definitely worth seeing!