Joseph Cornell’s Dreams

Joseph Cornell is well known for the oneiric quality of his art and films. Many have tried, often in vain, to put into words the strange power of his boxes - toy-like constructions in which playfulness and humour are anchored in profound melancholy. Slot machines of visions’, said Octavio Paz. Orman has combed through the voluminous diaries that Cornell kept throughout his life in search of the artist’s own dreams. What she found are brief flashes of images and short, enigmatic narratives of illumination - the verbal equivalent of Cornell boxes.