Have you ever heard of happiness springing from a deep well of sorrow?
EJ Hill - Janne Höltermann - Joshua Kent - Naomi Elena Ramirez
Opening Reception: May 6th, 2016 | 7-10 PM
Reading with Joni Murphy and Natasha Stagg: May 14th | 7-9 PM
This exhibition pays homage to the legacy and inquisitive spirit of the enigmatic Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader. The artists in this exhibition all share an affinity with the late artist’s exploration of performance, poetics, life and death. Bas Jan Ader’s final work was a transatlantic voyage titled In Search of the Miraculous, which resulted in the artist’s disappearance.
The title for this exhibition comes from a line in the poem below that was written by the artist's mother shortly after he was lost at sea. On October 12, 1975, Johanna Adriana Ader-Appels claims to have had a telepathic premonition of her son’s death, sixth months before his deserted vessel, Ocean Wave, was found off the coast of Ireland:
"From the deep waters of sleep I wake up to consciousness.
In the distance I hear a train rumbling in the early morning.
It is going East and passes the border. Then it will stop.
I feel my heart beating too. It will go on beating for some time.
Then it will stop.
I wonder if the little heart that has beaten with mine, has stopped.
When he passed the border of birth, I laid him at my breast,
Rocked him in my arms.
He was very small then.
A white body of a man, rocked in the arms of the waves,
Is very small too.
What are we in the infinity of ocean and sky?
A small baby at the breast of eternity.
Have you ever heard of happiness
Springing from a deep well of sorrow?
Of love, springing from pain and despondency, agony and death?
Such is mine."
The
artworks on display in this exhibition resonate with the tender words
of the artist’s mother. Can one face death and impermanence with a
character of fearlessness? Can one rise above the pain of loss to seek a
new appreciation for the ephemerality of life? To find meaning in the
midst of grief may help us to better understand the profound
contradictions of lived experience. On the one hand, there is the desire
to build deep connections and interpersonal relations. On the other
hand, there is the necessity for a seemingly abnormal capacity for
letting go.
EJ Hill’s endurance-based performances examine limitations of the body. In Blow, the artist transforms the simple act of breathing into a self-destructive exercise in near asphyxiation. Naomi Elena Ramirez’s video I Love You invites the viewer into an intimate moment with an anonymous female figure that has her back turned to the camera. Her words evoke longing, sadness, joy, pain, and a whole host of changing emotions with every utterance. Janne Höltermann’s video Horizonzoom portrays a vastness of space that is mesmerizing. The expanse of sky and endless ocean waves create an existential meditation that feels both grounding and groundlessly infinite. Joshua Kent’s The flowers of the field are free, is photographic documentation of a performance printed on silk crepe de Chine. The work portrays an anonymous self-portrait/still-life memorial.