Reading Nam June Paik
Posted November 11, 2019
External Article: Gagosian Quarterly
Gregory Zinman, an assistant professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Literature, Media, and Communication, wrote "Reading Nam June Paik" in the Gagosian Quarterly, November 11.
Read an excerpt:
Every scholar granted access to an artist’s archive dreams of that moment of serendipity: stumbling across a passage that confirms a long-held speculation, gives voice to an artist’s intention, or unlocks a connection to an unstated influence. Even more alluring is the idea of discovering an artwork long obscured or lost altogether. This latter occurrence is rare, the academic equivalent of real-life art-historical jackpots like Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Martin Kober’s—a painting behind his couch in Buffalo may be a Michelangelo—or the six possible Willem de Koonings found by the Chelsea art dealer David Killen in a New Jersey storage locker. Yet the archive nevertheless promises the dream of discovery: opening up a new passage of art history, providing a corrective to the record and the accepted wisdom, counteracting master narratives, and expanding the possibility of finding meaning in the creation of art.
The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
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