In a quote that
encapsulates the
premise of
Conceptual art,
Joseph Kosuth
pronounced in 1969:
"The 'value' of
particular artists
after Duchamp can be
weighed according to
how much they
questioned the
nature of art." For
Kosuth, modern art
is essentially
self-reflective: its
intention is to
interrogate what art
is, to define the
concept of art. It
is no longer a
question of
producing beautiful
objects, but of
producing
questionable or
problematic ones.
Duchamp, by
putting a urinal on
display in a museum,
did precisely this:
he forced the viewer
to consider under
what conditions we
call something
"art." As if in
reply to Duchamp’s
question, Kosuth
answers that art
exists in the
artist's ideas
rather than in the
object itself.
However, Kosuth does
address the paradox:
as an artist, he is
consigned to produce
objects, and yet he
develops objects
that cast off their
identities as things
and become pure
ideas.
In "One and Three
Chairs" (1965), he
displayed a
photograph of a
chair, an actual
chair, and a
dictionary
definition of the
word "chair." The
piece distinguishes
between the three
aspects involved in
the perception of a
work of art: the
visual
representation of a
thing (the
photograph of the
chair), its real
referent (the actual
chair), and its
intellectual concept
(the dictionary
definition).
Reality, image, and
concept: the three
"sides" of a
perceived thing.
In later works,
Kosuth omitted the
first two, leaving
us with nothing more
than the concept: he
reduced his art to
definitions of art.
In 1966 Kosuth
exhibited the
dictionary
definition of the
word "painting" in
simple, unadorned
text. The work,
titled "Art as Idea
as Idea," shows the
progression from
reality to idea,
from image to
abstraction, and
from abstraction to
further abstraction.
As the title
suggests, art
becomes an infinite
reflection on
itself, in which the
"referent" -- the
object itself -- is
progressively
transcended. It
becomes an idea and
then an idea of an
idea. Obviously, the
process goes on
infinitely.
Since an idea is
no one’s property,
Kosuth allows art to
slip beyond the
museum, to become
public. In fact, he
attempts to
disseminate the
concept behind his
art to the widest
possible audience
and to publicly
defend the ideas
inherent in his
work. And yet,
Kosuth does in fact
produce actual
objects, which exist
in museums and
private collections.
Despite all attempts
to reduce art to the
idea of art, the
object persists.
Ultimately,
materiality is
unavoidable; like an
irreducible
remainder, it
lingers in the wake
of Kosuth’s adamant
idealization of art.