The Cornell series
The Cornell series is an ongoing project of complex assemblages that pay homage to and quite literally expand on the work of the American surrealist Joseph Cornell. They appropriate the celestial vocabulary of his boxes from the 1950s for work that redefines the idea of a “box” or enclosure. In the first piece of the series, Game for Joseph (2010-11), a box is expanded in height and width to fill the wall. In Observatory for Joseph (2011-2012), a box is expanded in depth by stacking 32 backless boxes. Hotêl de l’Etoile (2017) uses two way mirrors to create deep space from a thin box. Theatre for Joseph (2016) imagines the celestial theatre that Cornell assembled an extensive dossier for but never made. Please contact me for availability and pricing.
Observatory for Joseph
The Observatory consists of 32 identically-sized individual “Cornell boxes” that have no backs. They are numbered and when stacked make a 96” long “observatory”. They may be configured in different arrangements. The lighting is from the top (which is made of glass) either by fluorescent tubes as in this gallery installation, or spotlights from the ceiling.
2011-12, pallet wood, glass, glassware, cork, metal, wire, beads, chain, marbles, beads, lenses, plastic, wood, paper, and paint, 17.5”x 13”x 96” plus base and lights.
Video by Tom Ando of Up the Mountain Video
The Observatory showing the stacked boxes photo: Tom Ando
Detail of the Observatory photo: Tom Ando
The 32 boxes laid out in a grid
Hotêl de l’Etoile
The “hôtel” shaft extends up through the opening for the sewing machine and is only 6” deep. Observers can stand on either side of the work and look in without being seen by each other.
2017, sewing table, two-way mirrors, built in LED work lights, glass, wood, glassware, clay pipe, wire, cork, plastic, metal, paper, and paint, 74.5” x 33.5” x 24”
Hotêl de l'Etoile
Detail of Hotêl de l'Etoile
Detail of Hotêl de l'Etoile
Detail of Hotêl de l'Etoile
Theatre for Joseph
The theatre is a working model of a theatre as might have been imagined by Joseph Cornell. The backdrops are interchangeable on a simple hanging system and the theatre has its own built in lighting.
2015-16, parts of bed headboard, wine crate, pallet wood, doll heads, picture frames, ceramic light fixtures, brass rod, wire, paper, twigs, cork, glassware, vacuum tubes, wood, metal, plastic, and paint, 36”x 32.5”x 16.5”
Theater for Joseph with observatory drops
Theater for Joseph with winter palace drops
Theater for Joseph with astronomical facade drop
Game for Joseph
The first of the Cornell series, this work preserves the shallow depth of a Cornell box, but enlarges the width and height to over 6’, creating an expansive space with most of the Cornell paraphernalia pushed to the four edges. The center is populated by a few glasses, birds and targets, creating a minimalist simulacrum of one of his bird game boxes.
2010-11, pallet wood, glass, nails, glassware, craft birds, marbles, paper targets, molding, metal rod, wire, paint, 90”x 72”x 4.5”.
Reliquary for Joseph
Twelve inch square cube of two-way mirror. Contents and lighting variable. 2015
