QUARTET by Charles Keiger Jigsaw Puzzle (1000 Piece) Very Good Puzzles (2020)

 QUARTET by Charles Keiger Jigsaw Puzzle.

1000 Piece - 19.25" x 26.625" (48.895 x 67.6275 cm) 

Charles Keiger's  "Quartet" presents a set of four musicians: a woman in a pink dress with an accordian, a long-haired man with a guitar, a bear holding a drum and, the hardest to notice, a toy poodle stepping on a horn. They stand on a proscenium, with a bunch of Memphis-style architecture and some faraway mountains in the background, rosy clouds in the sky that are as artificial as any stage background. A bottle of whiskey sits on the ground. The artists admits to Rene Margritte as a strong influence, and although Keiger's surrealism feels gentler and more cheerful, there are similarities: the clouds, the preoccupation with doublin, the people moved around like paper dolls.

The image feels equal parts winking and sincere, a combination of new and old country, as Keiger says, quite likely influenced by the TV show "Hee Haw". Not only is it visually symmetrical, but it's balanced in terms of the opposites it presents: indoors and outdoors, animals and humans, male and females. East and West, desert and river He says, "I start each painting with a line down the center and everything plays off that line. I've never really thought about it, it's more of an intuative choice. I can treat the subjects as abstract forms that guide the viewer around starting with the centre.

An American puzzle issued in 2020 by Very Good Puzzle.

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