Today I will be discussing the artwork of Nam June Paik. Nam was a Korean American
Artist in the 60's and 70's. His work was inspired by the composer John Cage. Paik found his
inspiration through Dadaism (an early 20th century art movement) as well as Fluxus (a group of artists who merged different artistic media).
To give a little background information. Nam was born in 1932 in Seoul and was the youngest of five. Paik grew up learning the piano and was classically trained. His family eventually fled Korea, because of the war, and Paik made his way to Germany after graduating from the University of Tokyo. In Germany, while working with the composerThrasybulos Georgiades at Munich University, Nam met the four men who would give him the inspiration to create his electronic art. These four men were; Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Joseph Beuys and wolf Vostell.
Below is an image of John Cage. One of Paik's biggest motivators.
One piece that portrays Paik's use of music and art is his 1963 piece called Random Access:
In this image you can see the 50+ strips of audio tape Paik had stuck to the wall. He then asked observers to take down pieces and place them on the reel that he had rigged to a set of speakers. The speakers then played the audio strips placed on the tape deck. Giving the observer the control of the outcome. Thus the use of "Controlled Randomness". This is a commonly used principle in the digital medium due to the concept of "Random accesses a basis for processing and assembling information".
bib:
http://www.paikstudios.com/images/8.jpg
http://www.nydigitalsalon.org/10/artwork/thumbs/Random-Access-1.jpg
http://issueprojectroom.org/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/events/john-cage-paris-1981.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_June_Paik
https://blackboard.smcm.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-181223-dt-content-rid-735463_1/courses/15SP-ART214.01/13FA-ART214.01_ImportedContent_20130826114536/ChristianePaul.pdf
I found Paik's use of use to make art very interesting. I have always thought of art and music as one and the same. This post was so interesting I would love to learn more about this artist and see some more of his work.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how Paik's work was interactive. He wanted the viewers to have a say in what his art work was saying. It was also interesting to learn how an artist can combine two types of art (music and studio) to create a new piece with meaning. Dadaism is personally one of my favorite art movements because I enjoy how artists use everyday objects to make a new meaning for them. Great research overall! I thought you summed up the important parts of Paik's artistic life pretty well!
ReplyDelete