This is a brief comment on artwork of Joseph Cornell and Felix Gonzalez-Torres. This is also homework for NYU DM-GY 6053 Section D: selected artist research
Joseph Cornell: A combination or a zoom out
At first and foremost a collector, instead of an artist as we perceive, a core part of Joseph Cornell's career is "scouring old book shops and secondhand stores of new York looking for souvenirs, theatrical memorabilia, old prints and photographs, music scores, and French literature" [1]. This whole idea of scratching and collecting is the major feature of Cornell's art work, especially the "Cornell Box", which is widely known by artist and as an icon among computer scientist [2].
While my point here is, Cornell Box is not simply a combination of unique objects. Although it is a perfect combination with suggest story and individual anecdote, it is more like a miniature model of the world [3]. Each piece of Cornell Box is attempting to be fit with another, just like a piece of jigsaw puzzle. While as an whole image, the completed puzzle is reflecting a miniaturized piece of real world.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres: A number multiplication or a zoom in
In parallel with Joseph Cornell, the "piling up" of Felix Gonzalez-Torres has obviously "a direct connection with the Conceptual and Minimal Art of the 1960s". Which shows his interests in trend and coordination of modern art fashion. From some perspective, his point is in futile number multiplication, in his own words, "replicating themselves" [4].
But as opposition of Joseph Cornell, his work could also be interpreted as a model of microstructure. Intentionally or not, the idea of piling up atoms matches the initial point of minimal art movement, and step forward beyond it by a zoom-in representation of the intrinsic structure in daily object.
References
1. The Cornell Box official site: https://www.josephcornellbox.com/lifeart.htm
2. Jensen, Henrik Wann. Realistic image synthesis using photon mapping. AK Peters/CRC Press, 2001.
3. Chabon, Michael. "Wes Anderson’s Worlds." The New York Review of Books (2013).
4. Chambers-Letson, Josh Takano. "Contracting justice: the viral strategy of Felix Gonzalez-Torres." Criticism 51, no. 4 (2009): 559-587.
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