Nam June Paik, Remembering the Career of a Great Artist

Submitted by Evelyn Kiefer on Wed, 02/01/2006 - 12:22.

 

It is only fitting for Realneo users to take some time to remember the artist Nam June Paik. In his 73 years, his ground breaking work changed art and the world. In the 60s he was the first artist to make media his medium. He is widely considered the inventor of video art. He is also credited with coining the familiar phrases "information super highway" and the "future is now." If you have visited the current exhibition at MOCA, All Digital, it was Paik who led the way and made it possible.

Paik was truly a global citizen; he was born in Korea, studied art and music in Hong Kong, Japan and Germany, taught art in Germany, lived in Manhattan and Miami and exhibited all over the world.

 

Paik was part of the Fluxus group and created some of the most innovative art and music collaborations ever -- such as Cello Sonata No. 1 for Adults Only, A collaboration with cellist Charlotte Moorman.

To learn more about Nam June Paik and his work check out the artist's website www.paikstudios.com. Or visit the online archive of the 2000 Nam June Paik retrospective at the Guggenheim www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/past_exhibitions/paik.

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"There is no rewind button on the Betamax of life."

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 02/01/2006 - 15:46.

Thanks for pointing this out. He was very inspirational for many - a real trailblazer and innovator. From his obituary:

"He presciently coined the term "electronic superhighway" in 1974, grasping the essence of global communications and seeing the possibilities of technologies that were barely born. He usually did this while managing to be both palatable and subversive."

"Yet in many ways he was simply the most Pop of the Pop artists. His work borrowed directly from the culture at large, reworked its most pervasive medium and gave back something that was both familiar and otherworldly."

See the obituary in the NY Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/arts/design/31paik.html