[ slapstick]

The humor of Bas Jan Ader’s work can often be overlooked due to the solemnity of his approach and his young death at sea. In reality, a distinct thread of comedy, and slapstick in particular, reoccurs throughout his oeuvre. Many of the artist’s performances, films and photographs involve the use of falling. It’s hard to not see a similarity to the work of the silent movie era star Buster Keaton (1895-1966). The falling and tumbling of Keaton’s physical performances directly attacked the notion of the heroic and dignified movie protagonist. Likewise, Ader’s use of falling and submission to the power of gravity questions the stoic and cerebral conceptual artist. Rather than standing intellectually aloof or submitting to painful endurance tests, Ader’s work exhibits his particular brand of artistic slapstick meant to comment on art-making and the role of the artist. The film "Broken Fall (Organic), 1971" shows Ader hanging from a tree branch a short distance over a small stream. There he simply hangs till gravity finally succeeds and he drops into water below. This non-heroic gesture displays a subtle humor as see the artist intentionally set himself up for failure.