Nam Jun Paik  (1932 -2006) is one of Korea's most important contemporary artists known for his immense versatility in multiple fields of art including film making, painting, music and writing. Often credited with the original inventor of the Video Art way back in 1970s, at a time, when US and Europe were still reeling under the influence of abstarct expressionism and Dada movements.

Nam Jun Paik was also a supporter of the Neo dad movement in Berlin but soon initiated a new form of art : Video Installations. However it was in 1986 that Paik's installation titled 'Something Specific' brought him international recognition. His other important public art projects include 'Electonic Superhighway' and 'Ommah'. In all these works, Paik has presented his unique fascination with the changing face of modern living under an increasingly colonising technological changes.  

That these matters can be subjects of art was unthinkable in the 70s and the 80s and it was Paik who had been responsible for bringing them into the discourse of fine art. In his initial years Paik was immensely criticised for being loud, ambivalent, and too situational to be considered an artist dealing in aesthetics. But his critics fell silent with passing time and by 1980s, Paik had become the most influential post-modernist from Korea and an entire generation of artists of Korea, post-Paik, had continued to work in the same fashion.

Video installations of post-Paik era has changed a lot and according to many they are on their way out. Clamour for permanence is once again engulfing the art world. Nonetheness paik will remain as one of the most influential artists of 20th century who had given a new definition of aesthetics.