 Nam June Paik (1932–2006) is a towering figure in contemporary art. Born in Korea and trained in Japan and Germany in aesthetics and music, Paik settled in New York in 1964 and quickly became a pioneer in the integration of art with technology and performance. The exhibition features a selection from Paik's estate as well as from the Gallery's own collection. The centerpiece is One Candle, Candle Projection (1988–2000), one of the artist's simplest, most dynamic works. Each morning a candle is lit and a video camera follows its progress, casting its flickering, magnified, processed image onto the walls in myriad projections. Two other closed-circuit works share the main gallery—one involving eggs, the other a bronze Buddha.
The adjoining room features works on paper and a short film about the artist. The exhibition also highlights an important new acquisition: Untitled (Red Hand), 1967 (detail), Gift of the Hakuta Family, which includes a 19th-century Japanese scroll, a flashing bulb, and the artist's handprint. Here—as in so much of Paik's work—tradition and technology, elegance and humor, meditation and irreverence, come together in surprising harmony.
The exhibition is made possible by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.
www.nga.gov/exhibitions/paikinfo.htm (Exhibition Information)
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