Joseph Cornell...

Untitled (Cockatoo and Corks), c. 1948, Construction, 14 3/8 x 13 1/2 x 5 5/8 in, Private collection

Joseph Cornell

'Grid'

I think the artist’s metaphor with these “box” constructions is a meditation about life itself, which begins in the womb and ends in a coffin — both of which have been described in crude yet common slang as “boxes.”

Perhaps he was just obsessed with compartmentalization and this artwork was the manifestation of his particular OCD.

Boxes can be seen as time capsules akin to Andy Warhol's time capsules who, though he didn’t create artwork like this, was an obsessive “boxer.”