About Jerry’s Map

In the summer of 1963 Jerry began drawing a map of an imaginary city. The work started as a doodle done in the spare time he had while working at a tedious job. He continued to add to that map through the years until, in 1983, he set it aside to put his free time to other use.

It was stored in the attic of his home in Cold Spring, New York. It gathered dust. Jerry’s son, Henry, found it one day while rummaging around. He brought it down and asked what it was. Seeing it then triggered Jerry to dust it off and continue the project.

Years later, the Map is now a two-dimensional “virtual world” art project which is now comprised of almost 4000 individual eight by ten inch panels. When assembled, these panels form an approximate circle. The panel locations are defined by N, S, E, and W coordinates that originate at the center of the circle. The locations in the matrix do not change, but the panels themselves are continually revised based on instructions drawn from the artist’s custom deck of cards.

Its execution, in acrylic, marker, colored pencil, ink, collage, and inkjet print on heavy paper, is dictated by the interplay between an elaborate set of rules and randomly generated instructions.

Jerry has exhibited versions of his map around the world, select exhibitions include:

2023 Dennos Museum, Traverse City, MI
2019 Grand Rapids Art Museum, MI
2018 American Folk Art Museum, New York
2016 Aichi Triennale, Nagoya, Japan
2015 Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2012 MASSMoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts