Nam June Paik (1923-2006) was a multimedia artist
who was involved in the Fluxus movement but is best known as "The Father
of Video Art". He was born in Korea,
but trained in Germany and Japan. It's
almost alarming how accurate his predictions on the future of TV, the idea that
we could watch any channel in the world at any time and that our TV guides
would be "as thick as the Manhattan phonebook". He has had his art
displayed in both the Guggenheim and the National Portrait gallery. Major
concepts he's worked with are interactivity, mass media, and the speed of life
and need for meditation. I think what makes this artist so successful is his
innovative use of materials. At the time in which he was active no other
contemporary or past artist had ever thought of using modern technologies the
way he did.
It was in one of his retrospective shows last year
in the National Portrait gallery that I first heard of him. I got lost trying
to navigate the Metro with one of my friends and ended up going to see the Hirshorn
instead. I later came across him in a world history of art book I got for Christmas
and was surprised that he wasn't more contemporary. After further research, I
realized I had seen one of his TV Buddhas when as a young child during a school
field trip. I nearly got left behind because I was so immersed in the work.
In his art I see a different view of technology
that I've never seen. It personifies technology and tries to integrate it into
the culture that was. It does not try to camouflage itself. The technology and
Digital Art that I've seen in modern works is clean, sleek, and almost insubstantial.
I think of the simple Baldessari and the neon Nauman pieces. However he is,
conceptually speaking. He has similar concerns to other digital artists and also
uses interactivity in his work like many modern artists.
The piece in the reading, Random Access, is constructed
of tape on a wall. It cross hatches and connects like a game of pick up sticks.
It's an installation. The piece is interactive; visitors can "play"
the tape using a kind of audio player and speakers. The piece is much less
clunky than other works of his like "Andy Warhol Robot" or the giant "Neptune".
The piece is reminiscent of Star Cage by David Smith and achieves a similar
almost chaotic feel.
The interactivity of the art could mean many things, especially as I haven't yet found an example of the piece in motion. Judging from what I know about Paik and his influence, he may have been encouraging visitors to question what music and art are and their place in the world. A true conceptual piece, questionable and forces the visitor to rethink their preconceptions of what art is and can become.
The interactivity of the art could mean many things, especially as I haven't yet found an example of the piece in motion. Judging from what I know about Paik and his influence, he may have been encouraging visitors to question what music and art are and their place in the world. A true conceptual piece, questionable and forces the visitor to rethink their preconceptions of what art is and can become.
Sources
Lewis, Jim. "Nam June Paik, inventor of video art.
- Slate Magazine." Slate Magazine.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/obit/2006/02/nam_june_paik.html
(accessed September 4, 2013).
Rosenberg, Karen. "He Tickled His Funny Bone, and
Ours." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/arts/design/nam-june-paik-at-smithsonian-american-art-museum.html?_r=4&
(accessed September 4, 2013).
Judkiss, Maura. "“Father of video art” Nam June
Paik gets American Art Museum exhibit (Photos) - Going Out Guide - The
Washington Post." The Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-guide/post/father-of-video-art-nam-june-paik-gets-american-art-museum-exhibit-photos/2012/12/12/c16fa980-448b-11e2-8e70-e1993528222d_blog.html
(accessed September 4, 2013).
Smithsonian Institution . "Exhibitions: Nam June
Paik: Global Visionary / American Art." Smithsonian American Art Museum.
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/paik/ (accessed September 4,
2013).
All images from Art Tattler, Excluding Star Cage,
which is from LACMA
See Also
"TV Garden"(1974) Nam June Paik
"Global Groove" (1973-video)- Nam June
Paik
"Neptune" (1993)- Nam June Paik
"One Candle" (1988/98)– Nam June Paik
This was a very enjoyable read! I'm impressed by your knowledge of the art world; not many in the class likely have a great deal of experience interacting with the artworks seen in our reading. Nam June Paik truly appears to have been an innovator, and he reinforces the notion that art can be interactive.
ReplyDeleteI found it very funny that since our last glass, I have seen a TV Buddha four times in various settings. Each time, the author has interpreted it in a slightly different way. However, each time it is analyzed, the one aspect that remains the same is the artist's desire to make the viewer think. This seems to be a common goal in conceptual art, and if encouraging questioning and thought in viewers it indeed its primary goal, then this work is really not so different from art almost a century ago, despite the technological advances.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested in Paik, check out Bruce Nauman's surveillance and video corridor works also, as well as Martha Rosler's 'semiotics of the kitchen.' Nauman's works are some early investigations of the surveillance of video that are complementary to Paik's. I think it is also important to check out Rosler's video also--while Paik's art is certainly interesting and innovative, at some points it translates old power dynamics into new media without thinking critically about them (see: Paik's TV bras vs. Yves Klein's blue nudes). Rosler's work investigates gender dynamics on Television by parodying the 'cooking show' in a way that Paik does not culturally question.
ReplyDeleteI do love his work, and there is more out there to investigate!
Thanks! Will do
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