Zen Drawing II

Known as the father of video art and a key member of Fluxus, Nam June Paik is one of the most influential figures in global postwar and contemporary art. Born and raised in a cosmopolitan family in Korea and living in various countries, his broad cultural background and interests in technology, music, and design underlie his unparalleled body of work. In this work, he uses the shell and screen of a TV as the “canvas” for a painting with two faces defined by a few brushstrokes.

Paik’s lifelong exploration of Zen Buddhism and the meaning of meditation bridged modern technology and philosophies from his cultural origins. However, he refused to have his works viewed with cultural biases or understood within the dichotomy of East and West. Instead, he explored the concepts of Zen as one of the subjects that simply drove him to respond as an artist.

Paik first studied aesthetics, art history, and music at the University of Tokyo, then moved to study in Germany in 1957, where he met his colleagues John Cage and Joseph Beuys. He briefly returned to Tokyo in 1963, then moved to New York permanently in 1964.