You’d be hard-pressed to come up with an artist less likely to inspire a play than Joseph Cornell (1903-’72), who lived his life in boxes. Working at a series of mind-numbing clerical jobs, he spent most of his life with his aging mother and disabled brother in the same small house in Queens. He never dated, never married, never even had lovers until his mid-60s, when he lost his virginity to a young art student.
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For decades Cornell toiled at his kitchen table assembling boxes of mysterious, dreamlike scenes: a naked plastic doll with cheesy blond hair standing on a piece of moss surrounded by a cave of menacing bark, a newsprint parrot sitting on a real wooden perch surrounded by columns of newsprint.
“I said I would be interested in working with a graphic artist next time around,” says Allen. “For a while we were kicking around the idea of doing the complete works of Vermeer. Then we each made up a list of artists that we would like to adapt.”
Boxing Joseph Cornell plays at the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM; tickets are $10. Call 773-275-5255. –Jack Helbig
