Considered one of the pioneers of conceptual and installation art in the 1960s, Joseph Kosuth has undertaken sustained investigations into the philosophy of language and the primacy of meaning that have taken the form of objects, installations, texts, publications and projects in public spaces. Working primarily in clearly-defined series, Kosuth believes that an artist’s medium is meaning, not simply form and color, and that meaning is generated as a surplus from the juxtaposition between two elements, for example the space between text and image, primarily enabled by his use of appropriation.

Joseph Kosuth
Medal of Honor for Fine Arts, 2022
National Arts Club, New York
Sprüth Magers congratulates Joseph Kosuth on being awarded the 2022 Medal of Honor for Fine Arts by the National Arts Club, New York.
Previous recipients of this honor have included Faith Ringgold, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Robert Wilson, Louise Bourgeois and John Chamberlain. As one of the pioneers of Conceptual art and installation art, initiating language-based works and appropriation strategies in the 1960s, Kosuth's work has consistently explored the production and role of language and meaning within art.