P.G. #9 (I see what I see.)

Artist Joseph Kosuth (American, born 1945)

Date1991

Dimensions4 7/8 × 47 3/16 in. (12.4 × 119.9 cm)

MediumCobalt blue neon mounted directly on the wall

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineThe 2019 TMA Board of Directors recognizes this work in honor of Director Brian Kennedy and his efforts to both develop strengths and expand directions in the permanent collection. Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2018.11A-D

Not on View

Label TextToledo, Ohio-born Joseph Kosuth is one of the pioneers of conceptual art and installation art. His work has consistently explored the production and role of language and meaning in art. P.G. #9 (I see what I see.) is among the many language-based works Kosuth made using neon lights and a transformer, many of which were inspired by the writings of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951). Kosuth’s phrase “I see what I see” is a tautology. In logic and linguistics, as established largely by Wittgenstein, a tautology is a statement of fundamental fact or truth which is unchangeable and irreversible, even if rephrased in any way possible. In Kosuth’s work, the meaning of the phrase is equated with how the words are visualized. In this case, the words are formed from blue neon tubes. Kosuth plays with linguistic and verbal literalness by giving us a visual equivalent in the neon letters to the meaning of the text, regardless of its form.