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Lot Essay
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
Conceptually close to the artist’s first neon works from the 1960s, Seeing Reading, 1981, is an innovative and intellectual work by Joseph Kosuth. One of the forefathers of Conceptualism, Kosuth’s practice is based in the inquiry into the central philosophies and ideologies of artistic expression, and the relationship between the work’s significance and representation. Spelling out the words ‘this object, sentence and work completes itself while what is read constructs what is seen’ in clear orange neon lettering to form a horizontal frieze, the words perform at once as the subject and object of the artwork, suggesting that the concept that language possesses meaning only in relationship to itself. In Seeing Reading, the work’s meaning is endowed by the act of the viewer interacting with the work. The title of the work is fulfilled as the viewer engages with the work: as we read the phrase, its meaning is revealed. A blue iteration of this work is held in the collection of the Castello di Rivoli.
Representative of Kosuth’s contribution to one of the most important contemporary art movements of the twentieth century, Kosuth began creating word pieces in neon whilst developing his earliest Conceptual works in 1965. The year 1981 signalled an exploration in Kosuth’s practice, with his major retrospective at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. Having studied philosophy and anthropology, in 1981 he began using the theories of Sigmund Freud in his text based work. Along with other Conceptual artists, Kosuth sought to demonstrate that the ‘art’ component is not found within the object itself but rather in the idea of the work. Arguing that art was no longer a matter of formal problems, he proposed that art should investigate the structure of meaning and the processes of representation. Using language as the medium itself, Kosuth demonstrates the tautological, discursive nature of art. Thus, while Seeing Reading provides a witty and appealing visual experience, Kosuth insists that this is immaterial. Initiating language based works in the 1960s, his work has consistently explored the production and role of language and meaning within art and his more than forty year inquiry into the relation of language to art has taken the form of installations, museum exhibitions, public commissions and publications on an international stage. In this way, this work continues the artist’s observation that ‘When you describe art, you are also describing how meaning is produced, and subjectivity is formed. In other words, you are describing reality’ (J. Kosuth, quoted in N. Spector (ed.) Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z, New York 2004, p.180).
Conceptually close to the artist’s first neon works from the 1960s, Seeing Reading, 1981, is an innovative and intellectual work by Joseph Kosuth. One of the forefathers of Conceptualism, Kosuth’s practice is based in the inquiry into the central philosophies and ideologies of artistic expression, and the relationship between the work’s significance and representation. Spelling out the words ‘this object, sentence and work completes itself while what is read constructs what is seen’ in clear orange neon lettering to form a horizontal frieze, the words perform at once as the subject and object of the artwork, suggesting that the concept that language possesses meaning only in relationship to itself. In Seeing Reading, the work’s meaning is endowed by the act of the viewer interacting with the work. The title of the work is fulfilled as the viewer engages with the work: as we read the phrase, its meaning is revealed. A blue iteration of this work is held in the collection of the Castello di Rivoli.
Representative of Kosuth’s contribution to one of the most important contemporary art movements of the twentieth century, Kosuth began creating word pieces in neon whilst developing his earliest Conceptual works in 1965. The year 1981 signalled an exploration in Kosuth’s practice, with his major retrospective at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. Having studied philosophy and anthropology, in 1981 he began using the theories of Sigmund Freud in his text based work. Along with other Conceptual artists, Kosuth sought to demonstrate that the ‘art’ component is not found within the object itself but rather in the idea of the work. Arguing that art was no longer a matter of formal problems, he proposed that art should investigate the structure of meaning and the processes of representation. Using language as the medium itself, Kosuth demonstrates the tautological, discursive nature of art. Thus, while Seeing Reading provides a witty and appealing visual experience, Kosuth insists that this is immaterial. Initiating language based works in the 1960s, his work has consistently explored the production and role of language and meaning within art and his more than forty year inquiry into the relation of language to art has taken the form of installations, museum exhibitions, public commissions and publications on an international stage. In this way, this work continues the artist’s observation that ‘When you describe art, you are also describing how meaning is produced, and subjectivity is formed. In other words, you are describing reality’ (J. Kosuth, quoted in N. Spector (ed.) Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z, New York 2004, p.180).