Nam June Paik

For my final presentation, with Sarah Vaz, we chose to research the artist Nam June Paik.

Paik's early life was interesting, because he was not born here in the United States. He was born in Seoul Korea. When he was younger he was actually training to be a classical pianist. During the Korean war, Paik and his family had to flee their home and went to Hong Kong first, and later Japan. Six years later, Paik graduated from the University of Tokyo. He wrote his thesis on the composer Arnold Schoenberg. Paik got interested in electronic art after he moved to Germany to study at Munich University.

Paik participated in the Fluxus movement. His debut was at an exhibition titled, "Exposition of Music-Electronic Television." He randomly placed television sets and then used magnets, which distorted their images.

In the year 1964, he moved to New York and began doing work with classical cellist Charlotte Moorman in a video and musical performance. I remember seeing images of this in class and began interested in Name June Paik and his work. This is only touching the surface of Paik's work, but there is too much to write in a short blog post about the man who is considered to be the first video artist! The rest will be talked about in our presentation.

The Expanding Medium: The Future of Computer Art

I found this essay very interesting since I use a computer everyday as a graphic designer. Herbert W Franke talked about a lot of different views and I agree with many of them. The computer is definitely taking over. I liked the quote, "In contrast to classical art, which looks back on thousands of years of history, computer art is a young activity still in its early stages of development. It cannot be mature because its instrumentarium is not yet mature. The artist using a computer depends on the hardware and software accessible for technological, scientific and commercial uses. Fortunately, many solutions to graphic problems are designed so universally that they can also be used for esthetic applications." I've been having problems recently with computers shutting down in the middle of working on projects and my external hard drive has also been an issue. I find it interesting that he says "The artist using a computer depends on the hardware and software accessible for technological, scientific and commercial uses." I've been really thinking about that idea lately and it's frustrating having to depend on technological devices that sometimes don't work the way you need them to. Being a graphic designer, I depend on a computer, but what if it doesn't work properly, or it crashes and all of my work gets deleted? It's scary sometimes having to depend on something that isn't always helpful.

It's interesting that he talks about what the future will be like with computers. I think about this also and I think everything will be taken over by technological devices. It's scary to think that handwriting things might never be used in years from now. It makes you wonder what people skills individuals will have since a lot of communication can be done without ever having to see or talk to someone in person. You can e-mail, blog, and text. There is skype, but even still, you're using a computer to communicate with someone else.

Final Presentation

I'm doing my presentation on Nam June Paik with Sarah Vaz. I found some information on him and his work is very interesting.

Digital Artist Daily

I came across this website (http://www.digitalartistdaily.com/). It is filled with tips and tutorials, artists and their work, and a lot of other helpful fun information! Great digital art reference website. Check it out!

"The Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

This article was pretty interesting. It made me look at things from a different point of view. The idea of things being reproduced and not being one of a kind anymore is definitely something that I feel like people can struggle with. Reproduction is such a big part of modern life; from pictures to ads, to posters. Studying graphic design makes me very aware of reproduction, but I can see where Walter Benjamin is coming from when he says that something is missing from the medium.

On the other hand, reproduction can be a good thing. It saves time and energy being able to mechanically reproduce something than having to create it all over again. This goes hand in hand with the fast paced way of life we currently live in.

Analog vs. Digital

Here are two images of a hand making a fist. The first one is represented digitally and the second is analog. I think they pretty much both achieve the same goal. You can see detail and texture in both images. You can also see shadows and how the light is being reflected on the subject. Even if you were just observing the drawing, you would still be able to get a clear image of what a hand making a fist looks like. The digital picture is more straight forward, but I still think that both images clearly show what is being portrayed.

Rhizome Post

I was looking at all of the different work on Rhizome and I came across this interesting piece. It is a musical video piece. In the video you can hear sounds, which are represented visually. This really caught my attention because in my Graphic Design II class we are creating a sound calendar. We had to pick 12 different sounds and represent them in a visual way. This piece I found on Rhizome relates to that project so it interested me a lot. I like how the different shapes and movement throughout the video really look like the sound that you hear. You can find the video here.

Crazy Cool Photoshop Paintings

This guy I work with showed me the artwork of Sean Andrew Murray. On his website it shows his paintings which are all done in photoshop. They are absolutely amazing ! Above are two examples of his work. I can't believe that they are done in photoshop. It must have taken him forever to produce a piece like that. The guy I work with actually knows Murray and he said that he literally just keeps building up the colors and layers until he gets the look he wants to achieve. I thought these paintings were really cool and it was interesting to see them done in a digital way instead of the traditional paint on canvas. His work really does have an amazing painterly effect.