As I was listening to a bootleg of David Bowie playing Lou Reed’s Waiting For The Man, I cut the last pieces and sanded this 20 piece matchbox puzzle. Here are a few of the pieces.
I like them. They speak to me (as they say). Now in what way could those pieces possibly fit together? What must the intertwining pieces look like? How could that climber/bowler/whatever on the right get to the snailish thing on the bottom left or the 45rpm record insert looking thing at the top? Well, let’s see.
So those are the other pieces. The roads and bridges that connect the islands from the upper picture. Obvious, aren’t they? I should have guessed, right? Here’s the whole thing assembled:
So, what’s my point? I think I’m saying I can’t guess what the puzzle will end up like. I like to say the puzzle is a song and my cutting is the performance. No two will ever match. They may be alike in some ways but they will always be different in other ways. This is their purpose. This is their value. This is why hand cut puzzles are special. They cannot be machined. Laser cut puzzles aren’t this. Die cut puzzles aren’t this.
Welcome to this performance.
And thank you for your attention.
Craig