This tape is a report of a quest undertaken by Yeomans into the life and work of the Dutch conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader. Her research begins when she sees an intriguing photo of a man supporting his sorrowing head on his hand while great big tears roll over his cheeks. Under the photo it says: "I'm too sad to tell you". The photo, a piece of art by Alder from 1970, is ironic and at the same time movingly real. When she discovers that he mysteriously disappeared on a solo sailing trip from Cape Cod to the Netherlands, her fascination for this strange figure becomes even greater. Was it a masterful escape from the claustrophobic art world and the start of a liberated anonymous life? Yeomans is gripped by his deep romantic desires which can be found in everything of his that she encounters. She discovers that his romanticism is not just an adolescent desire for liberation, but is also coloured by the ambitions of a young artist, however disarming his work and demeanour may be. It is difficult to separate irony from seriousness in his work. Yeomans decides to make a ‘rite of passage’ herself and she travels in her beat-up old car from Florida to Los Angeles to visit Ader's widow. The journey is a test of her will to achieve her goal in only two days. She arrives, worn out and disorientated. The contact with the widow brings her to the epicentre of Ader's legacy. The widow is relativizing and even cynical about both her disappeared husband and Yeomans' mythical quest. The distance in Ader's work reappears in the distance Yeomans applies to herself in this first work. The way in which she deals with biographical material is refreshing as well. Episodes from Ader's life for example are recalled using Hollywood films and thus are transformed into archetypes from the amusement industry. A fictionalizing of both the lives of the hero Ader and of the diligent researcher Yeomans occurs. With a feeling for ambiguity, the hero thus becomes very special and unique, while on the other hand, something of anonymity seeps into the image of the artist. The miraculous which Ader strived for in his life and work, proves to be a door to the ordinary tale of a dissatisfied man, driven by restlessness, who unfortunately fell victim to his own compulsion to escape. However romanticized the image of Ader may be, the video balances perfectly on the knife-edge of admiration and critical detachment, perhaps with rather more feeling for relativity than Yeomans' idol proved to have. Months after his departure, the battered and unmanned boat was found off the coast of Ireland.
– Willem van Weelden
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Scenario Erika Yeomans, Music Grieg (‘Peer Gynt’-suite), Editing Victoria Plummer, Voices Lizzy Yoder, Ford Wright, Mary Sue Turley
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