VMFA: Nam June Paik

I was excited to see this piece when I visited the museum. Especially because I recently did a paper on him and now know a lot about him. Nam June Paik is undoubtedly the master of video art. He helped to establish this medium in the 1960's. Although a he was a very prestigious Video Artist he also worked in other mediums including performance art and sculpture.


This piece is called "Buddha Watching TV". is a combination of video art and sculpture basically making it a video sculpture.  Nam June Paik actually made the concept for this piece in in 1974. However this version that rest in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was made in 1997.


Paik  used a real Buddha head from Indonesia and wrote his name aggressively on it. The head sits in dirt and seems to be watching it self on the television screen. The image on the screen is live and is constantly broadcasting the unchanging head. This piece supports the act of reflecting upon the age of technology. A theme that is present throughout several of Paik's works.


"The real issue implied in 'Art and Technology' is not to make another scientific toy, but how to humanize the technology and the electronic medium, which is progressing rapidly. We will demonstrate the human use of technology, and also stimulate viewers NOT for something mean but stimulate their fantasy to look for the new, imaginative and humanistic ways of using our technology." - Nam Jun Paik