DAN ABRAMSON

Gallery Boxes (Assemblage / 3D)

This section showcases Dan Abramson's three-dimensional assemblage works and gallery boxes, considered the magnum opus of his artistic output.

Abramson, who mastered multiple media including sculpture and painting, was deeply influenced by the American assemblage artist Joseph Cornell, whom he called the "mechanic of the ineffable."

Abramson's philosophy led him to believe that the means of expression were no longer found "in the art store" but "in the gutters & dumpsters, in heaps of earthquake debris". This approach is evident in his box constructions, which embody his disdain for compartmentalized thought and meaning, often using sardonic humor to "settle the bile".

 Abramson accepted "everything as its material", aligning with the collage technique that abolishes the separation between art and life.
This poetical intent is highlighted in pieces like:

• “Oracles” – A series of 14 boxes based on Greek oracles, designated as his masterwork.
• “Box with Box & Two Columns” (1992) – A work that parallels Cornell’s Untitled (Girl and Two Columns).
• “Utopia Parkway” (1993) – A piece that salutes the fanciful perfection of Cornell’s “Day.”
Two Tahitis
1990 
13.25 x 13.25 x 3.5 inches 
Gallery Box
Unsquared (Albers)
1991 
14 x 10.5 x 4.5 inches 
Gallery Box
Utopia
1994 
9.25 x 12 x 4 inches 
Gallery Box
Box in Box w 2 Columns
1992 
18.25 x 14.75 x 5.25 inches 
Gallery Box
Evolution & The Constancy of Demise
1993 
11.5 x 16 x 5 inches 
Gallery Box
Enigma: A Case History
1994 
12.75 x 17 x 5.25 inches 
Gallery Box
Euphoria
1994 
9.25 x 13.5 x 4 inches 
Gallery Box
Conference
1994 
8.5 x 13.75 x 3.5 inches 
Gallery Box
Arrangement
1994 
9.5 x 12.25 x 4.5 inches 
Gallery Box
Utopia Parkway
1993 
9.5 x 15.25 x 4 inches 
Gallery Box
Fun
1991 
16 x 11.5 x 4.25 inches 
Gallery Box
Movie of the Week
1993 
17.5 x 11.75 x 5.5 inches 
Gallery Box
Abramson sought to explore the relationship between the outside of the box and the interior, viewing the box and glass not as a container, but as dimensions of a total experience. When exhibiting these pieces, he was meticulous about their presentation: the "Oracles" must be wall-mounted, in sequence, in one room, with nothing else in the room; and individual boxes are optimally placed on pedestals or under glass. Abramson enjoyed constructing his boxes from salvaged materials.

Dan’s Gallery Boxes stand as physical poetry, transforming the forsaken materials of the everyday—from cork orbs and broken garlic presses to baseballs—into eloquent statements of art that challenge apathy and disrupt conventional logic.

Oracles Series

Apxaika
1995 
16.25 x 12.25 x 4 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Satyr's Lament
1995 
13.75 x 10.25 x 4 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Prodigal Son
1995 
11.25 x 9 x 4 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Onan
1994 
17.5 x 11.5 x 4.5 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Tomorrow
1995 
17.75 x 12.25 x 5.5 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Pilgrimage
1995 
16.25 x 12.25 x 4.75 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Briseis & Chyrseis 
1996 
17 x 12 x 4.25 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Xenoclea
1995 
13 x 11.5 x 4.25 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
9 Lives (Obverse)
1996 
10.25 x 10.25 x 3.25 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
9 Lives (Reverse)
1996 
10.25 x 10.25 x 3.25 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
The Last (Oracle)
1995 
14.75 x 11.25 x 4.25 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Songs of Apollo (Spectre)
1995 
18 x 11.25 x 4.75 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Lapsed Oracle
1995 
13.25 x 9.75 x 4.25 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Eris Relents (Controlled Conflict)
1995 
20 x 11.25 x 4.75 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
Archive (Vortex)
1993 
21.25 x 11.5 x 4.5 inches 
Oracles Gallery Box
© Dan Abramson Estate