Nam June Paik Biography

Nam June Paik

Video artist Nam June Paik studied music, history, and art at the University of Tokyo. Known as the “father of video art,” he began to experiment with televisions in his artwork in the 1960s, and moved to New York City in 1964. Coinciding with the first moon walk in 1969, the premiere of Paik's “TV Bra” at the Corcoran Museum of Art stunned audiences. Paik is recognized for innovations such as the video synthesizer, which can paint screens, produce images, and reverse images on a video monitor. In his large-scale exhibitions, Paik uses walls of as many as 300 television monitors in which to display his comic, oftentimes radical and experimental works. He has collaborated across genres with fellow experimental artists John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and David Bowie. Paik was named one of the 25 most influential artists of the 20th century by ARTnews, and had a major showcase at the Guggenheim Museum in the spring of 2000.