Nam June Paik, who is known as “the father of video art” was a Korean-born American artist who contributed extensively towards contemporary art by introducing TV tube as a medium for making art (Phillips, 1). Nam Jun Paik once said that ‘technology would enable people to communicate immediately’ (Lee and Rennert, 1). He had a great insight of technology that it would be an important communication tool even before internet and mobile communications took place. (Lee and Rennert, 1). The artist’s artwork reflected a huge influence in the twentieth-century art and became a global present and influence. His innovative art and visionary ideas continue to spark the new generation of artist. Nam June Paik predicted a world where technology became
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In his later works such as TV Buddha (1974), it is noticeable that there was a change in Nam June Paik’s theme. An antique Buddha statue was put on the opposite side of the TV set and one video camera behind the TV records the statue. (Phillips, 75). The main purpose of this positioning was to meditate with emptiness, beyond time and space, but the picture displayed on the monitor returns hi to his physically which he cannot escape (75). According to Phillips, this represented the force of modern narcissus (75). But Hanhardt view this as an infinite play of the live electronic image brought time into an eternal present tense (Hanhardt and Hakuta, 34). Also Lee stated that the idea of this was not to move without people having to move (Lee and Rennert, 178). And she said that the Buddha contemplates itself, which fulfils a meditative stare inward into the self. Furthermore, Paik was able to harmoniously unite Eastern religions, Buddhism and Western technology, TV through this work. (Phillips, 74) Also the altered version of the TV Buddha shown in the Whitney retrospective in 1982, showed that the TV was buried under an earth hill so that only screen could be visible (76). This showed the contrast between statue and the technical tool was diminished in that television had become a well-integrated basic part of nature and now looked like a huge eye or a window in a mountain
In his later works such as TV Buddha (1974), it is noticeable that there was a change in Nam June Paik’s theme. An antique Buddha statue was put on the opposite side of the TV set and one video camera behind the TV records the statue. (Phillips, 75). The main purpose of this positioning was to meditate with emptiness, beyond time and space, but the picture displayed on the monitor returns hi to his physically which he cannot escape (75). According to Phillips, this represented the force of modern narcissus (75). But Hanhardt view this as an infinite play of the live electronic image brought time into an eternal present tense (Hanhardt and Hakuta, 34). Also Lee stated that the idea of this was not to move without people having to move (Lee and Rennert, 178). And she said that the Buddha contemplates itself, which fulfils a meditative stare inward into the self. Furthermore, Paik was able to harmoniously unite Eastern religions, Buddhism and Western technology, TV through this work. (Phillips, 74) Also the altered version of the TV Buddha shown in the Whitney retrospective in 1982, showed that the TV was buried under an earth hill so that only screen could be visible (76). This showed the contrast between statue and the technical tool was diminished in that television had become a well-integrated basic part of nature and now looked like a huge eye or a window in a mountain