Nam June Paik

by Erika P.



Nam June Paik was a South Korean artist. He was born on July 20th of 1932 in Korea. He worked on many mediums of art but was often recognized for inventing the medium, also known as video art. He had a father who was a textile manufacturer and four brothers. As he was growing up, he was trained as a typical paintist. In 1950, Nam and his family had to flee from Korea, due to the Korean War. First they fled to Hong Kong; then later Japan. Six years later, he graduated from the University of Tokyo with his histories of art and music. That same year, he moved to Germany, where he met three composers named Karlheinz Stockhausen, Joseph Beuys, and JohnCage. Paik was then inspired to go into electronic art. In 1964, Paik move to New York, and began working with a standard cellist Charlotte Moorman, to combine hisvideo, music, and performance. In 1965, Sony introduced the Portapak, Paik's greatest weapon. He could both move and record things; it was the first portable video and audio recorder. From there, Nam June became an international celebrity, known for his creative and entertaining works. In 1988, he showed his love for his first home, South Korea, with a piece called "The more the better", a giant tower made entirely of one thousand three monitors for the Olympic Games being held at Seoul. In 1996, Nam June Paik had a stroke, which left him partially paralyzed. He died on January 29, 2006, in Miami, Florida, due to natural causes.

Jackson Pollock

by Tiffany Byrd




Jackson Pollock was born in Wyoming on January 28, 1912. Jackson Pollock began studying art in 1928 when he was sixteen years old. In 1945 Jackson Pollock married another American artist Lee Krasner. Jackson Pollock had a very unique style of painting. Instead of using paint brushes Jackson Pollock used things such as towels, sticks, knives, toothbrushes and other things. This style was called the “Abstract Expressionist” style. His paintings had no shape and many different colors and big pieces of canvas. Jackson Pollock’s art reflected greatly on Pablo Picasso’s style of art, but his artwork was not anything like the work of Pablo Picasso’s. Because of Jackson Pollock’s style of art he became known as “Jack the Dripper”. Then in 1950 Jackson Pollock had a “mood swing” and so did his art. Because of this Jackson Pollock’s art changed to figurative black and white paintings. Jackson Pollock became an unhappy alcoholic. In 1955 Jackson Pollock quit painting and one year later he died in a car accident. “On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around in it, work from the four sides and be literally “in” the painting.” ~Jackson Pollock.