Joseph Kosuth

Joseph Kosuth’s conceptual, self-referential neons, silkscreens, installations, and public commissions explore the role of language within art. Kosuth’s work is steeped in literature and philosophy: He has referenced the theories of Plato, Sigmund Freud, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, among other major thinkers. His conceptual and formal concerns are exemplified in works such as One and Three Chairs (1965), a visual expression of Plato’s theory of forms that features a wooden chair, a photograph of the chair, and a dictionary definition of the word “chair.” Kosuth has exhibited in New York, London, Milan, Berlin, Vienna, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. His work has sold for six figures at auction and belongs in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, the Guggenheim Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.