Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau

In a magnificent antique wooden frame painted in gold, twenty color (2-channel) monitors show rapidly-changing colorful abstract images. The title “Fontainebleau” appears to be taken from the Palace of Fontainebleau in France; the palace is not only the magnificent residence of French monarchs including Napoleon but also a place where the prototype of the ‘gallery’ that hung paintings side by side is located. The Gallery of Francis I, in particular, displayed paintings on the walls surrounded by splendid gold decorations. This work represents Paik’s idea of the following: “As the collage technique replaced oil painting, cathode-ray tubes will replace the canvas.”