Detail

Artist Nam June Paik coined a very special phrase: “The Braun Tube will replace the canvas.” His free soul was full of experimentation, challenge, passion and courage leading him to explore the boundaries of video art, a new art genre. Meeting relentless challenges as a musician, artist and performance artist, he presented his own unique world of art. Born in July 20, 1932 in Seoul, he developed a driving passion for music and went to study in Germany, where he met John Cage, an avant-garde musician. Greatly affected by him, Nam June Paik started showing his performance art together with media works that used various media. In 1963, with his first private exhibition called “Exposition of Music – Electronic Television,” he launched his video art. Through his works such as “Magnet TV” and “Participation TV,” he tried to show works that were fulfilled by the participation of the audience. In “TV Garden” where he installed monitors among real plants, he expressed the harmony between nature and technology. With Charlotte Moorman, a cellist, he attempted a new genre in art called “video performances.” In the 1980s, he tried the utilization of the medium of TV to broadcast world-wide communication and elicit participation through live satellite broadcasting of his works such as “Good Morning Mr. Orwell,” “Bye Bye Kipling,” “Wrap around the World,” etc. In his numerous works, the human touch and nature co-appear, with nature and technology co-existing, the West and the East meeting, and human beings communicating with each other. In 1996, Nam June Paik fell due to a stroke. Even afterwards, he continued to create admirable works with an incredibly strong passion. He left us in January 2006, but Nam June Paik, his works and his spirit will remain with us forever. On the first anniversary of his death, new stamps are being issued featuring his works such as “TV Buddha (1974),” “The More, the Better (1988),” “Megatron/Matrix (1995)” and “Om-Mah (Mother) (2006).”