Joseph Cornell: Manipulation Of Images And Objects

Artists often use manipulation of images or objects to change their original form, use or idea to create a new way of expressing the artist’s intended meaning. They can achieve this through reconstructing images and objects, ideas, materials and media. And collections of such images and objects can also be a form of manipulation. Self taught artist, Joseph Cornell uses manipulation his collection of everyday objects to convey a whole new meaning altogether. His works “Habitat group for a shooting gallery” and “Pharmacy” manipulate everyday objects into a whole new idea or a new meaning. Joseph Cornell was a collector, he collected French literature, and sheet music, trinkets, Victorian bric-a-brac, photographs, souvenirs and memorabilia, and
Cornell’s usual work containing birds for example his “Cockatoo with watch faces” and his work “The hotel Eden” contain birds that look peaceful and the artworks hold a dreamlike manner. In his “Habitat group for a shooting gallery” there a four birds of varying breeds, but one of the birds looks as if it has cut its head on the glass fronted wooden box in which the birds are contained. Cornell uses manipulation to change what was once an average image of a bird to mean something different. The box has a shattered glass front which adds to the intended meaning and along with the red paint which represents blood, draws the eye to the injured animal first. Next the eye is drawn up to the blue bird above the bloodied bird, and then the colorful parrot up on the far left hand corner catches the eye next. The use of the three primary colors which is not only represented on the birds but also paint splatters which perhaps represent blood from the bird’s head, adds color to the artwork, but doesn’t take away from the intended meaning, as red represents blood, blue perhaps sadness and depression and yellow perhaps freedom. Glued to the back of the box is some text in French, which is hard to comprehend as only part of the word is
The artwork looks like a bathroom medicine cabinet, or a pharmacy shelf, hence the title of the artwork. The meaning of the work is hard to define. The found objects throw out the meaning for individual interpretation. The lines and shape of the artwork don’t draw the eye into any focus point in particular but allows the eye to gently transgress slowly through the artwork, where individual bottles claim the attention, with their colorful and items that are not unusual by themselves, but placed in bottles and lined up in a row, these objects become an odd combination and are taken away from their original context and manipulated into something new. The bottles contain random objects from Cornell’s many collections including shells, seeds, butterfly wings and powders along with swizzle sticks, marbles, dust and printed images (Christie’s, 2009: http://www.christies.com). Pharmacy takes normal everyday objects and manipulates them into something beyond normal expectations. Perhaps with the use of the featured objects Cornell wanted to help to heal the world, probably of stress, and that the cures are steeped throughout the world only if viewers are willing to open their eyes and look (Christie’s, 2009: http://www.christies.com). The artwork gives off a feeling of wonderment and amazement when viewing which adds to the meaning