Introduction
The Puzzle Project is a work of art that can be added onto - can "grow" indefinitely. By joining sheets of plywood together edge-to-edge, a theoretically limitless surface is created.
As it grows, pieces and groups of pieces are separated and treated as individual works of art. By maintaining its shared edge, it presents an opportunity to consider and examine our singularity and our connection... socially, emotionally, spiritually... how our place in the larger scheme simultaneously influences and echoes the whole.
The puzzle as a metaphor for life implies a degree of uncertainty, of challenge... of struggling to make the pieces fit. The "solution" or desired connection among pieces, however, exists with absolute certainty whether or not we are able to comprehend it.
The Puzzle Project is potentially infinite in dimension. By design, it lacks "edge" pieces and therefore has no boundaries. New pieces and sections are continually being added, creating an evolving, expanding organism in flux.
Because of this, the overall puzzle can never be physically assembled and viewed in its true state, so that each perception of it is unique.
Each puzzle piece is either literally connected (or capable of being linked) with its surrounding companion pieces and, by extension, philosophically linked to every other piece in the puzzle, even those pieces which remain to be created or have been removed. Single puzzle pieces do not define the overall whole. Rather it is their relationship to one another- the larger pattern - which defines those individual pieces. Although they have some degree of differentiation (in their unique shapes, colors, etc.), they do not exist in a vacuum; they cannot be said to possess a unique identity outside of their place in the pattern. They require connection - real or implied- to validate their reality.
description
"The puzzle project deals with vague themes: connection, balance, infinity, using a plain and simple image- the jigsaw puzzle. The idea is to create objects that point to the ideas or concepts they represent, as a single puzzle piece inherently states that it is part of
something greater."
The puzzle project is a conceptual work of art that was started in 1994 by artist, Kevin Campbell, and continues to be added onto up to this day. If it were fully assembled, it would span an area larger than a basketball court, ranking it one of the largest hand-cut hand-painted jigsaw puzzles ever made.
It is made up of over two thousand puzzle pieces. Each one is individually numbered, catalogued, and photographed in order to create a composite digital image composed of hundreds of photographs of pieces and groups. The different groups and single pieces are owned by over eighty different collectors in the US and over
numbers
On the back of each piece there are a series of numbers that convey certain information about that piece. These numbers are used to document the piece's location and when it was completed.
Example:
Coordinate # 5N/1W-47
Production # 842
Group # 119
Coordinate # - Indicates the sheet of plywood from which that particular piece is cut. It locates its direction and distance from CENTER. It is followed by that piece's number within that sheet of plywood.
Production # - the order in which all the pieces are created.
Group # - the order in which that group is painted/completed. This is also the number that is indicated in the title of each piece.
process
When new sheets of plywood are added, the pieces that cross the unglued edges must be left uncut. No edge can be cut until it is glued. Consequently the entire uncut perimeter is kept in storage.
A) The borders adjacent to the new plywood are brought from storage and prepared to be glued.
B) Edges are glued creating a continuous joint which can now be cut.
C) All the pieces that don't cross the edge are cut out. The new pieces are then divided into groups in a variety of sizes.
D) Each group is then treated as an individual piece of artwork.
