My cultural epiphany

One day I went with my friend Sally to the magnificent Jackson Pollock exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. I was very moved by his work. I was also moved by how, the moment we exited the exhibit, we were assaulted by an overwhelming array of "marketing tie-ins", including posters, postcards, books with paintings inside, blank books with just part of a painting outside, and even a CD of Jackson Pollock's favorite Jazz tunes to listen to while he painted.

Then I had an epiphany. They had thought of art books, note books, music, posters, postcards. Yet what would be the most obvious and appropriate marketing tie-in of all to honor this puzzling artist whose work was (to quote the MOMA exhibit) ``a seductive labyrinth [of] pitfalls, surprises and delights?''

Yep, you guessed it. The next morning, inspired, I implemented the Jackson Pollock 4x4 Puzzle as a Java applet (click here to see the source code). My dream is to implement the 5000 piece Jackson Pollock Jigsaw Puzzle.

- Ken Perlin

PS: The image is from Pollock's Shimmering Substance (1946, Oil on canvas, 84 1/4 x 58 in; The Museum of Modern Art, New York).

PPS: How will you know when you've solved it? Don't worry, you'll know...

Instructions: Click on any square that is immediately left, right, above or below the gray square. The square you click on will jump to the gray spot.

(if the image shows up blank, click Reload on your browser)