Philipp Kaiser with Mary Sue Andersen Ader and Helene Winer

In 1971, Chris Burden disappeared for three days without a trace. That work, entitled Disappearing, gives its name to this exhibition, which examines the theme of disappearance in the works of Burden and his contemporaries in 1970s Southern California, Bas Jan Ader and Jack Goldstein. Philipp Kaiser, Disappearing—California, c. 1970: Bas Jan Ader, Chris Burden, Jack Goldstein

For this very special presentation, Philipp Kaiser, curator of Disappearing—California, c. 1970: Bas Jan Ader, Chris Burden, Jack Goldstein is in conversation with Mary Sue Andersen Ader, the widow of Bas Jan Ader and owner of the Bas Jan Ader Estate, who as an artist herself, filmed many of her husband’s pieces; and Helene Winer, co-founder and curator of Metro Pictures Gallery in New York, who in the context of this exhibition, worked with all three artists and was crucial for conceptualism in Southern California as the director of the Pomona Art Gallery in the early 1970s.

Disappearing—California, c. 1970 is an intriguing look at three of the most enigmatic and probing artists of the 1970s, bound by a special time and place that was primed for their radical and poetic explorations. Offering personal insight and investment in the premise of this exhibition, Kaiser, Andersen Ader, and Winer recount the early issues and occurrences of California conceptualism, offering a wonderful preview to a compelling exhibition.