Al Souza constructs unrelated pieces and whole sections of jigsaw puzzles into a rich visual stew of popular culture imagery. Souza shares with the Pop artists the desire to use commercial products as subject matter, perhaps to lampoon our society’s mass-produced aesthetic, or perhaps to affirm that art can be made from anything, even jigsaw puzzles.
The assemblages in this exhibition evoked the impulse of the frustrated puzzle-doer to force and jam unfitted pieces together. Such an action resulted in a new image or suggested a new reality; it was, in a sense, an unintentional performance of artistic process.