Nam June Paik's Recordings Show Why He's the Most Dangerous Figure in the Art World

Works 1958.1979 Nam June Paik (Sub Rosa) Paik was born in Korea, then went to Germany to study composition with Wolfgang Fortner. He soon found his way to the famed WDR Electronic Music Studio in Cologne, where he met Stockhausen and was invited to perform as part of Stockhausen's "Originale," a theater-music happening. Paik's performance?presented here in a 20-second excerpt?was so outrageous that he quickly made a name for himself in avant-garde circles. During this performance, Paik doused himself in shaving cream, poured water into a shoe, drank it, filled it again, gave it to Allen Ginsberg, who drank it, after which they kissed. The piece sounds like a typical collage work from the time, using snippets of everything from classical piano music to radio fragments.

In a similar vein is 1958-'59's "Hommage à John Cage," written just after meeting Cage (and sounding an awful lot like Cage's "Fontana Mix"), and "Etude for Pianoforte," dating from around the same time. Speeded-up voices, screams and murky electronics make up the bulk of these tracks, many of which were used as soundtracks for Paik's Fluxus-based performances during that period.

Also included are two half-hour quiet piano pieces, "Prepared Piano for Merce Cunningham" from 1977 and "Duett Paik/Takis" from 1979, featuring Paik on piano and the metal sculptor Takis bashing his sculptures. They're quiet and lovely pieces, fleshing out the identity of Paik as a serious composer.

It's hard to think of too many other visual artists who are equally adept as musicians. Harry Bertoia's metal sculptures comes to mind, and so does Larry Rivers' sax work; Mike Kelley's wonderful work with Destroy All Monsters and the Poetics stands out. Paik, though, has defined his career on catholic and heterodox practices. He does it all and sees it all as one: sound is sculpture, video is sound, performance is music. In the coming months, more Paik material will be available as the Alga Marghen label prepares to release a four-CD set of Charlotte Moorman's music with several tracks featuring Paik.