Pique About Paik
Video Artist Skip Blumberg Responds to Review
By: Letter to the Editor - Apr 03, 2007
To the editor:
re: "Videos Featuring Nam June Paik...
Covering Paik's Funeral by Skip Blumberg..."
(By Charles Giuliano March 28, 2007)
Thanks watching my video and printing accolades to "the greatest
innovator in the increasingly ubiquitous field of video art." It was
unfortunate, however, that Charles Giuliano and his wife Astrid missed so much
of the video. To start, despite the headline, the funeral is only
peripherally "covered" and in fact should be described more as the settting
for this rare gathering of early video artists. Altho Professor
Giuliano mentions I'm not seen, for the astute viewer, the video is a catalog
of techniques for revealing a one-person camcorder crew to the
audience: I appear on screen early on reflected in a mirror in my studio
talking to directly to the viewers, and then I'm seen in various ways ten or
so more times throughout the 47-minute featurette; As for his stinging
criticism of the 63 people who speak on camera, there were in fact many
valuable insights by Nam June's well-known and unknown friends,
colleagues, and acolytes. Maybe Charles and Astrid scanned through parts?? And
their adding an insult that "little or no thought or research went into
it," reveals the reviewer's ignorance of my lifetime collaborating with
and knowing Nam June and many of the artists seen in this video. But
most importantly, I'm sorry that Charles and Astrid missed out on the
warmth, affection, generosity, good humor and good feelings among the
early video community and their appreciation for a great and important
artist.
Charles Giuliano replies
The amount of care and attention to detail displayed in Mr. Blumberg's Letter to the Editor, presented unedited above, is on a par with the level of organization and professionalism evident in his video tribute to the late Korean born artist, Nam June Paik, arguably, the greatest force in the field of video art in which he was a pioneer.
As a professor of art history, on a weekly basis, I screen video documentaries on contemporary artists for my class on the avant-garde at Boston University. It was in this context that I previewed Mr. Blumberg's video given the importance of the artist and the relevance of the work to a dialogue on the avant-garde. Having viewed most but not all of the documentary I concluded that it would be of little or no value in an academic setting relative to other and better choices for valuable class time.
The comment that "little or no thought or research went into it" is accurate. Mr. Blumberg implies that years of association and collaboration with the artist comprised his "research" and that I missed out on the "warmth, affection, generosity, good humor and good feelings." Frankly, I haven't felt that way since "Three Days of Love, Peace and Happiness" sitting in the mud at Woodstock. Have I missed anything? Paik was a serious and inventive artist and to have his life work and accomplishments devolved to such expressions of subjective sentiment is an arch disservice to an artist whose memory deserves better articulation.
What Mr. Blumberg's video conveys was that Nam June got a heck of a good send off and I am sorry to have missed the party. Instead of an insightful tribute to a great artist Blumberg's amateurish home movie is just too funereal. A bummer man.
Mr. Blumberg replies
well I guess you get the last and most opinionated word(s). everybody
else
lovvves the video and appreciates the service to the community and sees
it as
the home video you describe. too bad you end with your bummer.