Overview
Jess (Burgess Franklin Collins) was born in Long Beach, California in 1923 and died in San Francisco in 2004. His 50-year art-making practice centered on appropriation, and included collage, painting, drawing, assemblage and poetry. Synthesizing literature, mythology and the language and images of popular culture, he transformed the everyday into fantastical narratives, creating one of the most original bodies of work to come out of the American 20th Century.
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Works
  • Jess (Collins), The Visitation (II), 1955
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    Jess (Collins)
    The Visitation (II), 1955
    oil on canvas in the artist's frame
    26 x 24 in
    86.4 x 55.9 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), One of the Norns Is Dead, 1955/71
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    Jess (Collins)
    One of the Norns Is Dead, 1955/71
    oil on canvas in artist's frame
    33 1/4 x 47 1/4 in
    84.5 x 120 cm
  • Framed abstract painting with pastel color palette
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    Jess (Collins)
    Sea Cove, 1952
    oil on canvas in artist's velvet wrapped frame
    frame 19 1/2 x 25 1/2 in / 49.5 x 64.8 cm
  • Jess (Collins), Robert Weaving, 1953
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    Jess (Collins)
    Robert Weaving, 1953
    handmade oil and wax crayon on found paper
    10 x 12 in
    25.4 x 30.5 cm
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  • Prison Isle, framed
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    Jess (Collins)
    Prison Isle, 1954
    oil on canvas on board in artist's frame
    frame 13 x 17 in / 33 x 43.2 cm
  • A poem sits above a black and white horizontal panel depicting a young nude male sitting on the ground with a guitar resting at his side, facing away from the viewer and towards a lion laying under a tree. The poem is as follows: "The Song of the Borderguard The man with his lion under the shed of wars sheds his belief as if he sheds tears. The sound of words waits — a barbarian host at the borderline of sense. The enamored guards desert their posts harkening to the lion-smell of a poem that rings in their ears."
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    Jess (Collins)
    Song of the Borderguard, c. 1955
    ink on paper
    13 x 10 1/2 in
    33 x 26.7 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), Book Cover for Norma Cole's Mars, 1993
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    Jess (Collins)
    Book Cover for Norma Cole's Mars, 1993
    pasteup
    8 1/2 x 12 3/4 in
    21.6 x 32.4 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), Untitled (with Joan Crawford Head), 1952-53
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    Jess (Collins)
    Untitled (with Joan Crawford Head), 1952-53
    pasteup
    18 x 23 1/2 in
    45.7 x 59.7 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), Cover for Credences 1, 1974
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    Jess (Collins)
    Cover for Credences 1, 1974
    pasteup
    9 x 14 in
    22.9 x 35.6 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), A Break-Down Make-Up of the Hole in the World, 1950s
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    Jess (Collins)
    A Break-Down Make-Up of the Hole in the World, 1950s
    ink, handmade oil and wax crayon, and pasteup on paperboard (2)
    overall 10 x 16 1/2 in / 25.4 x 41.9 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), Boob #1, 1952
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    Jess (Collins)
    Boob #1, 1952
    pasteup
    12 3/4 x 16 1/2 in
    32.4 x 41.9 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), Untitled (Pooh Figure), 1953
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    Jess (Collins)
    Untitled (Pooh Figure), 1953
    collage
    17 1/2 x 23 1/2 in
    44.5 x 59.7 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), A Cryogenic Consideration: Or. Sounding One Horn of the Dilemma (Winter), 1980
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    Jess (Collins)
    A Cryogenic Consideration: Or. Sounding One Horn of the Dilemma (Winter), 1980
    paper and push-pin on board over plywood
    48 x 72 in
    121.9 x 182.9 cm
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  • Jess (Collins), Mystic Writing #9, 1955
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    Jess (Collins)
    Mystic Writing #9, 1955
    handmade oil and wax crayon on paper
    11 1/2 x 11 1/4 in
    29.2 x 28.6 cm
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  • Viewed from underneath and through an old-style car's steering wheel the viewer sees two white men standing in the open car door, the front man is nude with arms behind back looking over shoulder at the viewer, man in back is fully clothed with hands resting on door and top of car, leaning past nude man's chest to stare at viewer
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    Jess (Collins)
    Untitled (Car and Male Nude), circa 1962-1969
    pasteup
    13 1/2 x 9 in
    34.3 x 22.9 cm
  • Jess (Collins), Cover for Credences 3, 1975
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    Jess (Collins)
    Cover for Credences 3, 1975
    pasteup
    8 1/2 x 14 in
    21.6 x 35.6 cm
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  • Crayon drawing of a blonde man holding a tobacco pipe to his lips; wood frame with burnt orange mat
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    Jess (Collins)
    Self-Portrait, early 1950s
    handmade oil and wax crayon on paper in artist's frame
    image 12 x 9 in / 30.5 x 22.9 cm
    frame 20 x 16 1/2 in / 50.8 x 41.9 cm
  • Brightly colored abstract vs figurative painting of greenery and flowers
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    Jess (Collins)
    Meadow Sweet, n.d.
    handmade oil and wax crayon on paperboard in artist's frame
    6 1/2 x 4 1/4 in
    16.5 x 10.8 cm
  • Sepia Pacific Telephone advertisement depicting man and woman in domestic setting with woman on phone. Greyscale man pasted in, affectionately intertwined with man and woman.
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    Jess (Collins)
    Share a Party Line?, n.d.
    pasteup
    10 3/4 x 8 1/2 in
    27.3 x 21.6 cm
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  • A vintage lamp made of found materials, featuring a canine statuette, pull chain, and flower bud-like bulb
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    Jess (Collins)
    Assembly Lamp Seven, 1963
    mixed media assemblage
    29 x 18 x 18 in
    73.7 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm
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  • Bright multicolored and patterned crayon drawing representing different domestic fabrics. Strange symbols in green in foreground
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    Jess (Collins)
    Mystic Writing XI, 1955
    handmade oil and wax crayon on paper
    11 x 10 in
    27.9 x 25.4 cm
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  • A greyscale and sepia-tone tondo collage on beige mount.
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    Jess (Collins)
    Emblems for Robert Duncan II: #6, "To open Night's eye that sleeps in what we know by Day", 1989
    pasteup
    6 x 5 3/4 in
    15.2 x 14.6 cm
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