Joseph Kosuth is a key figure in the redefinition of the art object that took place during the 1960s and 70s with the formulation of Conceptual art, which questions art’s traditional forms and practices, as well as the assumptions surrounding them. To do this, Kosuth was among the first to employ appropriation strategies, texts, photography, installations and the use of public media, as well as to write the earliest theoretical texts supporting it. With Kosuth, art itself is essentially a questioning process. As a result, all aspects of the activity of art has been reconsidered, from the function of objects to the role of the exhibition itself. Since the 1960s the elements in his work have all been employed from other contexts: philosophy, literature, reference books, popular culture, scientific theory and so on. He utilizes our inherited meanings to construct a new meaning of his own.
Joseph Kosuth
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Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, [Chinese], 2018
Violet neon mounted directly on the wall
21.3 x 80.5 cm
8 1/2 x 31 3/4 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, [Chinese], 2018
Yellow neon mounted directly on the wall
21.3 x 80.5 cm
8 1/2 x 31 3/4 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, [Chinese], 2018
Ruby red neon mounted directly on the wall
21.3 x 80.5 cm
8 1/2 x 31 3/4 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, [Chinese], 2018
Orange neon mounted directly on the wall
21.3 x 80.5 cm
8 1/2 x 31 3/4 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, [Chinese], 2018
Green neon mounted directly on the wall
21.3 x 80.5 cm
8 1/2 x 31 3/4 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, [Chinese], 2018
Cobalt blue neon mounted directly on the wall
21.3 x 80.5 cm
8 1/2 x 31 3/4 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, 2018
Yellow neon mounted directly on the wall
18 x 94.1 cm
7 1/8 x 37 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, 2018
Violet neon mounted directly on the wall
18 x 94.1 cm
7 1/8 x 37 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, 2018
Pink neon mounted directly on the wall
18 x 94.1 cm
7 1/8 x 37 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, 2018
Orange neon mounted directly on the wall
18 x 94.1 cm
7 1/8 x 37 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, 2018
Green neon mounted directly on the wall
18 x 94.1 cm
7 1/8 x 37 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, 2018
Cobalt blue neon mounted directly on the wall
18 x 94.1 cm
7 1/8 x 37 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, 2018
Warm white neon mounted directly on the wall
18 x 94.1 cm
7 1/8 x 37 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) #1, 2018
Cool white neon mounted directly on the wall
18 x 94.1 cm
7 1/8 x 37 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #1 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: One night I dreamed I was locked in my Father’s watch.
John Ciardi
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #3 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: Each morning the day lies like a fresh shirt on our bed.
Walter Benjamin
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #2 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: We need not destroy the past. It is gone.
John Cage
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #4 (A.R.), 2022
Reads: Time and space are modes by which we think, and not conditions in which we live.
Albert Einstein
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #5 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: We look at the present through a rear-view mirror.
Marshall McLuhan
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #6 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: The misfortune of today is no more real than the happiness of the past.
Jorge Luis Borges
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #7 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: Toute séparation est un lien.
Simone Weil
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #8 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: On ne peut sortir du quotidien.
Henri Lefebvre
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #9 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: La visibilité est un piège.
Michel Foucault
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #11 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: The beginning is always today.
Mary Wollstonecraft
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #12 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: Sleep demands of us a guilty immunity.
Djuna Barnes
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #13 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air.
Virginia Woolf
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #14 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: Make it a mistake.
Gertrude Stein
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #10 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: Qu’on finissait par s’habituer à tout.
Albert Camus
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #16 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: Is it later yet?
Jennifer E. Smith
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Quoted Clocks #15 (A.R.), 2022
Clock and vinyl
Reads: No pen, no ink, no table, no room, no time, no quiet, no inclination.
James Joyce
40 x 4.5 cm
16 x 2 in -
Joseph Kosuth, Four Colors Four Words, 1966
Violet, red, yellow, blue neon mounted directly on the wall
3 7/8 x 77 1/2 inches
10 x 197 cm
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Joseph Kosuth, Ni apparence ni illusion, 22.10.09 - 02.06.10
The Louvre, Paris -
Joseph Kosuth, Ni apparence ni illusion, 22.10.09 - 02.06.10
The Louvre, Paris -
Joseph Kosuth, Du phénomène de la bibliothèque [Roland Barthes], 2006
Silkscreened Glass, neon, philosophy book
250 x 122,73 cm -
Joseph Kosuth, Du phénomène de la bibliothèque [Friedrich Nietzsche] version II, 2006
Silkscreened Glass, neon, philosophy book
104 x 200 cm -
Joseph Kosuth, Du phénomène de la bibliothèque [Paul Ricoeur], 2006
Silkscreened Glass, neon, philosophy book
166 x 250 cm -
Joseph Kosuth, Titled (A.A.I.A.I.) [F.E. Special]#1, 1967
Black and white plastic photography laminated panel
120 x 235 cm -
Joseph Kosuth, Titled (A.A.I.A.I.) The Frank form, 1968
Black and white plastic photography laminated panel
120 x 120 -
Joseph Kosuth, Recognizable Differences, 2005
Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
Exhibitions
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Tabula Rasa (14 Times)
— • Shanghai -
Existential Time
— • Paris, Front Space -
Frieze New York 2018
— • New York -
WORDS WITHOUT THOUGHTS NEVER TO HEAVEN GO, Curated by Dieter Buchhart
— • New York -
Magritte et la lumière, John Baldessari, Urs Fischer, Sylvie Fleury, Mark Handforth, Gregor Hildebrandt, Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, Joseph Kosuth, Kris Martin, René Magritte, Anselm Reyle, Ugo Rondinone, Ed Rusha, Gavin Turk
— • Brussels -
Du Phénomène à la Bibliothèque
— • Paris -
Matter, Grey, Curated by Joseph Kosuth
— • Paris
Museum Exhibitions
Selected press
- Alexis Dahan, 'Joseph Kosuth on the art market', Purple Fashion, Spring-Summer 2014. — 0.0
- Arthur Ou, ARTFORUM, September 20th, 2011 — 0.0
- Carol Vogel, ‘On a Mission Yo Loosen Up The Louvre’, THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 11th, 2009 — 0.0
- Jacinto Lageira, ‘Kosuth sur les murs du Louvre’, GRANDE GALERIE, Automne 2009 — 0.0
- Ronald Jones, ‘Are you Experienced ?’, FRIEZE, January / February 2009, p.30-31. — 0.0
- Gean Moreno, ‘Joseph Kosuth’, CONTEMPORARY, N° 13, 2008, pages 60 à 63 — 0.0
- Pierre Sterckx, 50 Géants de l’Art Américains : ‘Joseph Kosuth’, BEAUX ART EDITIONS, 2007 — 0.0
- Elisabeth Lebovici, ‘L’esprit de la matière’, LIBERATION, February 2006 — 0.0
- Henri-François Debailleux,'Kosuth, piles au poil', LIBERATION, December 16th, 2006 — 0.0
- Manou Farine, ‘Joseph Kosuth – quelques questions sur l’art’, OEIL, n°586, December 2006 — 0.0
- Richard Leydier, ‘Matter, Grey’, ARTPRESS, 2006 — 0.0