Piecing It Together

By Karl F. Volkmar, NEW ORLEANS ART REVIEW

A sea of clouds the color of freshly shucked oysters hovered over southern Louisiana as we drove into New Orleans to view the new art shows before the opening night crowds. Rain fell continuously until we got to La Place. As we drew nearer to New Orleans, a pale yellow aura lying just above the horizon suggested that rain was not yet falling in the city. Just as we parked the car on Julia Street across from the florist shop, however, rain began falling, slowly at first, and then beginning to pour as we fumbled to open our umbrella. The temperature was mildly cool, a little too cool for just a shirt or blouse but quite comfortable in a sweater or light jacket. We walked down the street, staying close to the storefronts that gave us some protection from the rain and gusts that threatened to turn our umbrella inside out (and succeeding once), as we visited the galleries along Julia Street.

As we passed by the tall street-front windows of the Arthur Roger Gallery, both of us found ourselves drawn into looking through the window at the large works hanging on the opposite wall. The warm tones of the wood floor softened the cool indifference of the white walls and created a warm, inviting atmosphere that was inviting on this gray, rainy day. On the walls hung the dark and richly colored works of Al Souza that seemed friendly after the coolly exquisite craftsmanship and troubled explorations of works we had seen further up the street. Both of us paused before exchanging glances and nods and renewing our pace and heading towards the large double glass doors that would allow us to view the works inside that had attracted our interest more closely.

Fuzzy memories of gray, rainy days spent cozily indoors began to emerge from years past. Although we were being seduced by the warm colors, dark tones, and closely packed surfaces into moving closer, neither my companion nor I could quite put our finger on why we were so affected. The more closely we approached the works, the more details of images and colors and patterns we could see. Walking ever closer, the feeling that we were looking at something familiar grew stronger. As we stood directly in front of Yum Yum, all the pieces of the puzzle came together, so to speak, as we realized that the artist had brought together fragments of images from jigsaw puzzles to construct these collages.

Jigsaw puzzles! Hundreds of jigsaw puzzles had provided the images for these works! The vagueness of the earlier memories gave way to clearer images of family members gathered around a table to work jigsaw puzzles on gray, rainy days just like this one. One puzzle had even taken over the dining room table for over a week as we ate off trays and a card table. And now we found ourselves faced with making sense of Souza”s jigsaw puzzle based collages as the rain poured down outside.

We were fascinated as each piece yielded more information the closer we approached.We were familiar with works in which general perceptions from a distance yielded to finer and finer details the closer one moved. The minute realism of a Jan van Eyck and the dynamic linear fields of Jackson Pollock’s abstract expressionism were of this type. And we were familiar with works in which there seemed to be no clear connection between general perceptions from a distance and what was observed from up close, works like Diego Velasquez’s Las Meninas and impressionist paintings in general.

But our experience of Souza’s works was different. The general impression of expressionistic, even gestural, energy seen from a distance had first drawn our attention as we stood on the sidewalk and looked through the window. From this vantage point, Souza’s collages were interesting and aesthetically satisfying abstractions of color and contrast and composition. As we got nearer and became aware of the wealth of images, we enjoyed taking turns discovering the myriad details and talking about what they might mean. Then came the realization that the images had come from jigsaw puzzles and the memories this realization had evoked intrigued us. What was the significance of using jigsaw puzzles for creating art we asked each other? The use of jigsaw puzzles as the source of images may have been immediately interesting because of the novelty of the idea. But novelty, in and of itself, is not sufficient to sustain pleasure or interest beyond the initial excitement.

Which came first? Jigsaw puzzle? Or idea? Was Souza inspired by jigsaw puzzles? Or had he started searching for images and then discovered they could be found in jigsaw puzzles? Were jigsaw puzzles simply a mine of images or were there aspects of jigsaw puzzles as cultural objects that informed Souza”s work? Why were specific puzzles selected? Each of Souza’s works had a theme designated by the title: Crisscross and crossword puzzles. Yum Yum and food, and Shell Game and the seashore. Would it be sufficient to say that the images were simply interesting to the puzzle solver and the artist? Or were there deeper, cultural or psychological associations? Presumably, there had to be enough interest for the solver to want to construct the image from the scattered pieces. The artist would have had to find the images meaningful in relation to the idea he wished to express. I leave responding to questions revolving around images to others, as I look a little more closely at the relationship between puzzle solver, artist, and artist as puzzle solver.

The selection, solution, and appreciation of jigsaw puzzles involves affective, aesthetic, and cognitive experiences. For the puzzle solver, the deciding factor in determining the selection of which puzzle to solve may be an aesthetic one, but the full experience only comes from the solution of the-puzzle, followed by the appreciation of the reconstructed image. (I do not know if the artist completed each puzzle, completed only the areas used in his collages, or had others reconstruct the puzzles for him.) Both -puzzle solver and artist follow similar paths until they reach a critical point.

Solving jigsaw puzzles involves two activities: the matching of patterns in the picture and the matching of the shapes of pieces of the puzzle. Borders of puzzles are relatively easy to construct because of the straight edges; and borders provide a frame of reference for the remaining pieces. Patterns and objects can also he relatively easy to construct. Puzzle solvers are familiar with the stage when islands of put-together pieces float in approximate position amid a sea of single pieces. Then the paths of the puzzle solver and the artist go in different directions. The puzzle solver reconstructs the transitions between patterns and objects until the puzzle is completed, and derives satisfaction from having completed the puzzle, and, ultimately, enjoying the larger scale reconstruction of the image that had first drawn the solver to that particular puzzle.

The artist follows the same path as far as the piecing together of the border and the reconstruction of the main objects. Specific images are relocated from the context of the puzzle to the support for what will be the finished work of art. In this process, images are selected and juxtaposed and transitions are defined by the expressive needs of the artist.

For the puzzle solver, transitions/connections are predetermined by the puzzle image. The process is one of matching patterns with the illustration on the puzzle box as guide and fitting the shapes together. The matching of images is a process of matching patterns that continue from piece to piece; the matching of shapes is one of matching shape and silhouette. The selection of which puzzle to solve and the appreciation of the reconstructed image are two aesthetic experiences mediated by the cognitive activity of problem solving. There are even examples when completed puzzles have been glued to a support, framed, and hung on a wall.

Does this constitute a popular form of art? Or should we draw a distinction between an aesthetic experience, as in the example of a beautiful sunset or blossoming flower, and an art-based aesthetic experience? As we continue to experience Souza’s puzzle collages and understand the relationship between puzzle solving and artistic creation, we can understand how the aesthetic decision-making process can transform what might be considered a popular art form into an interesting and enjoyable work of art.