John Myers, Visiting Artist Lecture 1980

Critic and dealer John Myers gives a lecture on the life and work of Joseph Cornell, showing a series of slides of works from the interdisciplinary artist and film-maker. Myers first gives a brief definition of modern art, stating that it is something that is not concerned with illustrating ideas, but embodying a concept of an idea without words in order to harness an intellectual energy. Myers then goes into details on how Cornell was interested in these very thoughts. Myers also states that Cornell developed an obsession with romantic figures. It allowed him to deal with the nostalgia for the dead, which also complemented the many other interests he had. Some of these interests ranged from astronomy, his experiences teaching and working with children, surrealism, religion, flora and fauna, and animals to name a few. Myers ends his lecture by telling the participants that for Cornell, once he made a work of art, it allowed him to destroy reality and develop ambiguity. This is why ambiguity was something that was always so pronounced in Cornell’s work.