Paik video

by Edith Decker-Phillips

Paik Video by Edith Decker-Phillips, a renowned critic of contemporary media art, is a complete and meticulously documented account of Nam June Paik's career from its beginnings in Western-style musical composition through his discovery of the revolutionary work of John Cage, to his present status as a major figure in 20th century art. Known in the '50s for his "action music," he was led by electronic music to the visual electronics of television. Besides providing extensive aesthetic and technical analyses of the whole spectrum of Paik's ouvre from the late '50s to 1984, Paik Video emphasizes the artist's work in video installations as embodying the artist's major vision and influence in contemporary art. It also includes a complete, thematically organized catalogue of Paik's installations from 1963 to 1984, over one hundred illustrations of Paik's work including eight pages in full-color, ample and informative annotations, a full bibliography, and name and subject indexes.