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’S Biography

Jerry Gretzinger, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1942, studied architecture and liberal arts at the Universities of Michigan and California. He joined the Peace Corps in 1966 and spent 2 years in Tunisia, later returning in 1968 as an architect with an archeological team cataloging the Roman mosaics there. He came back to the United States in 1973 and started a handbag design company in New York. In the early 1980s Jerry was joined by his wife Meg Staley in the design and manufacture of women's clothing. He retired to Maple City, Michigan in 2004.