Known as the man who invented video art, Nam June Paik is an important artist of our time. He truly transformed video into an artist’s medium with his media based art that changed and influenced our understanding of visual culture.
His famous works include, the Electronic Superhighway, TV Garden, Zen for TV, Egg Grows, Megatron/Matrix, and so much more.
When researching about Paik, I had no idea that he was the guy behind all these amazing creations. Last year, I went on a trip to Washington, D.C to see the famous Electronic Superhighway. Little did I know about the man behind it though. I went to the museum to see that very exhibit and I remember staring in front of the massive piece of art for quite some time. The highway was so magnificent and huge, it caught my attention and honestly i could have stood there all day just watching all the little TV’s flutter and change about. The Electronic Superhighway is unlikes anything i’ve ever seen. Paik is so innovative in his works and truly puts all his heart and soul into his video creations.
The way that Paik incorporates televisions into his artwork is what makes him an intense and meaningful artist. I love the way that he intertwines electronic technology to create huge masterpieces. I think the art he created influenced SO many other artists to use TV and media in cultural and other types are art.
As a Swiss American visual artist and composer whose multidisciplinary work encompassed performance, sculpture, and video, Christain Marclay is a profound artist. His art tends to be thought of as “imaginatively exploring the physical and cultural intersections between sound and image, often through the deconstruction and recontextualization of recorded media and its associated materials.” He explained, “I’ve always been interested in how sound is visualized,” That being said, in 1979 he began exploring sound by manipulating turn tables (old vinyl records), and also explored his interest in a related abstract concept, time, by compiling clips from an enormous range of films into a 24-hour single-channel video titled The Clock (2010). Below you can watch some of the clips from his famous film:
Something cool about The Clock is that Marclay arranged the clips in order of the minute each one marked, and in exhibition the work was synchronized with the actual local time. For its virtuosic composition and its mesmerizing effect on viewers, The Clock was widely celebrated, and its presentation at the Venice Biennale in 2011 earned Marclay the Golden Lion for best artist.
Above are some of his exhibitions. I really enjoyed looking into Christian’s art because he combines music, film and also photography to create an interesting medium. Most art I feel as if I can not connect with, but after watching some of his film and also learning how he used turntables to create art, i thought it was amazing and extremely innovative. As a musician myself, sometimes it is hard to branch out of the classical box that so many musicians force on you, however Christian jumped out of that box and did his own and expiremented and just enjoyed music- which is something I think some artists don’t do enough. Although Christian gained attention and fame from mostly his films, I enjoy him as an artist for his vision for music. Below is a song I really enjoyed that he “created” or produced.
In 1991, he produced his Body Mix series where he comment on the commodification of popular music, various album covers on which human bodies are displayed are stitched together to form alien or sort of mutated bodies. The influence of Marcel Duchamp was evident in how he hilariously transfigured musical instruments in Lip Lock (2000). In Lip Lock Christian fused the mouthpieces of a tuba and a trumpet. Again, this work of his was said to be influential of Dunchamp. Below is a picture of the altered Tuba from Lip Lock.
I thought this was interesting because he seemed to fuse two instruments into one another. I think that this idea of his is very innovative, but simple and exciting at the same time. I love how his art is reflected through music, and musical instruments. It’s so exciting and this tuba seems to look very elegant, even though it could be seen as mutated. As a music major, Lip Lock was very interesting to learn about. I thought this tuba was a really cool piece of art because where the second smaller tuba is was where you were supposed to create music, however because he blocked the mouth piece the combined instrument can not be played. I am curious to understand why he made a piece that can not be played, but only admired. I think that I liked this tube a lot, however I am more moved by how he created music with the turn tables. For me, Lip Lock is interesting to look at and to learn about, but I think that art is about pulling at your inner emotions and to grasp deeper meaning within something. I don’t feel connected to this, but I did feel a deep connection to his alternative musical art.
To me, Digital Art is the creative freedom one has using technology. Digital art is all around- whether it is an ad online, a site, or even a blog; digital art is all around us. I worked at a social media firm in Washington, D.C this summer where I got to be a part of various teams within the firm itself. One team I got to work with was called the “creative thinkers team”. This team’s job was to create eye catching and creative inforgraphics and ads for clients. Before working at this internship I thought that digital art was simply just computer art- however after working with such an impressive team who used artistic programs such as photoshop, illustrator and many more, I learned that digital art is all around us no matter how subtle or sweet.
I find that digital art is so incredibly unique and diverse from other kinds of art because you are using technology to create something that so many diverse pieces or art using the internet and web programs as your drawing board. The desktop is your canvas, and the mouse is your pen. Digital art is a new approach to the way that art is certainly explaining in the 21 century. Throughout the years technology has advanced and has lead us to express ourselves in a whole new dimension. Technology and computers have opened up a new way to express art in our time, and the creative of digital programming allows us to push forward and create things we can’t necessarily produce on paper. I love creating digital art because i’m a techy and a computer gook at heart. I love learning new programs and diving into my work on photoshop. Sometimes digi art can limit art in a way though, since the programs (such as Adobe’s) can be very hard to learn at first. These programs are difficult and take time to fully grasp and learn how to drive. I found that the more you fiddle around and goof around on a specific program, the more you will get to learn it better. Sometimes it can be frustrating to know where all the buttons are to click, or how to bring your photo or art to life due to how much the program is capable of, but always keep trying and strive to drive the programs as best as you can.
I have a unique aesthetic (i like to think). I enjoy cool 80’s style looking photos of interior design, portraits, and also landscaping. By 80’s I tend to go for faded colors and old style looking photos. Below are some of my favorite landscape photos. I am a photographer at heart. I love capturing portraits of my friends and switching things up on photoshop to make the colors pop. I am a Nikon enthusiast and love to go around and snap RAW’s around campus and even on vacation. These photos really speak to my photography style, and the pictures I love to take and admire. My tumblr is Silentlyawake.tumblr.com and that is where I love to look for art and post my photos.
