Nam June Paik
This exhibition explores the pioneering career of Nam June Paik (1932–2006) through the prism of his close friendships with artists, including Joseph Beuys, John Cage, and Charlotte Moorman. Negotiating his identity between East and West, Paik developed an exuberant artistic language, incorporating Asian characters and symbols of his own devising that recur throughout his multi-faceted creations. Celebrating major gifts and acquisitions from the artist’s relatives, the Hakuta family, Nam June Paik: In Character showcases the late artist’s video sculptures, altered televisions, and an array of drawings and ephemera that have rarely or never been exhibited. Together, this selection spans Paik’s early Fluxus activity and performances to his final autobiographical works, tracing his playful vocabulary across geographic boundaries and artistic media.
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Ken Hakuta describes the experience of growing up with his uncle, the artist Nam June Paik, who was at the vanguard of video, sculpture, and performance art. He shares unique insight into a large group of works by Paik, who experimented with ways to distort the images on television screens, created robots from miscellaneous found objects, and even made artwork from Hakuta’s broken childhood toys.
See Robot K456 walk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K4zTxGrtrc
More television art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVozAnBiZrg
