We spent last night in Chattanooga, and this morning we decided to visit the Hunter Museum of American Art. “Andy Warhol Robot,” a 1994 sculpture by Nam June Paik on loan from the Kunstmuseum, greeted us as we entered the musuem. The main body of the robot is made out of cabinets of early television sets; the original cathode ray tubes (CRTs) have been replaced by newer CRTs which display short video clips by Paik. Other robot body parts include cameras, film projectors (at least that’s what I think they are) canned soup, and a Brillo box sculpture made by Andy Warhol.
As we were leaving the museum, a woman and two boys, aged about five and seven, were standing in front of the robot. The two boys were looking up at it with great interest, and as we walked by, I could overhear one of the boys telling the woman some story that involved explosions and either monsters or robots.
I’ve never much liked Andy Warhol’s stuff but I love Nam June Paik’s. This makes me curious what he saw in Warhol that I may have missed.
Amy @ 1 — Yeah, Warhol mostly leaves me cold, too — as in, he seems so cold-blooded. I’m trying to figure out if Nam June Paik is making fun of Warhol, or admiring his ability to swim in the ocean of commercialized visual media, or both.