A Quick Stop at a Thrift Store in California
In 1992, a woman named Teri Horton was in San Bernardino, California, when she stopped by a Goodwill thrift store to buy a cheap joke gift for a friend. The plan was to spend a few dollars and move on with her day. Then, something caught her eye.
An Eye Catching Item
Near a pile of old furniture, Horton noticed a large abstract painting leaning against the wall. Thick splatters of black, white, red, and brown paint covered the canvas. It wasn’t framed or polished, but it immediately stood out from everything else around it.
Screenshot from Who the $&% Is Jackson Pollock?, Picturehouse (2006)
Five Dollars Was All It Took
The painting was priced at $8, but Horton talked the clerk down to $5. She later said she bought it as a gag gift, thinking its strange look would get a laugh. At the time, she had no idea this purchase would follow her for decades.
Screenshot from Who the $&% Is Jackson Pollock?, Picturehouse (2006)
The Gift That Didn’t Land
When Horton gave the painting to her friend, the reaction was instant—and negative. The friend didn’t want it, calling it ugly and awkward to hang. Horton took it back and leaned it against the wall in her trailer, where it stayed for some time…