Joseph Kosuth and ethics as a mediator between meaning and emptiness.

Abstract

Joseph Kosuth’s “One and Three Chairs” is considered the materialization of his 1969 essay “Art after Philosophy”, where he defined Conceptual Art, in which Meaning relied solely in its authors mind, expressed through a tireless repetition. Although this kind of reiteration could become means for an understanding, the fact that no effort was made (so to speak) in explaining one’s personal views, deprived the observer of the needed resources for its interpretation. Here lies a dilemma where Conceptual Art can be criticised, since, if an artist can hide behind the observer’s lack of understanding, he can, in fact, propose something that, also for him, is devoid of meaning. This is why Kosuth’s work may consist not in the materialization of Conceptual Art itself, but in the defence that at the foundation of an artist's work there must be strong ethical values, manifested precisely through a correlation between Sign, Signifier and Signified, in which “One and Three Chairs”, and his subsequent work, repeatedly dwells, defending the expression of an honesty that should guide Conceptual Art, in its own defence, but also of its authors’ and appreciators’ defence.