The San Francisco artist Jess (1923-2004) has for decades been known to
cognoscenti as an inventive and sophisticated master of the collage
aesthetic. Recently however, his works are receiving fresh attention
from a younger generation attuned to Jess' interests in myth, narrative
and appropriation. Jess used images taken from sources ranging from
Dick Tracy to Dürer, from a Beatles bubblegum card to medical textbook
drawings, from 1887 Scientific American line engravings to frames from
George Herriman's Krazy Kat. In reexamining myth through a synthesis
of art and literature, Jess' work remains a crucial assemblage of the
meanings of our time. This volume brings to light collages, collage
books, word poems and altered comics that have been largely inaccessible
or unavailable since their making. Originally published in small
editions and hard-to-find journals, or made as one-off artist's books,
these works demonstrate the full range of Jess's extraordinary verbal
and visual play. Several of Jess's surreal comic-strip manipulations,
Tricky Cad (1954-1959), are reproduced for the first time in their
entirety, as are others such as Ben Big Bolt and Nance that have
never before been published. The book also includes a group of complex
wraparound book covers, several unpublished collage poems, and two
artist's books never before reproduced in full: From Force of Habit, a
"fantastic tale" which plays with the pages of a Swedish cult sci-fi
novel, and When a Young Lad Dreams of Manhood, a homoerotic paean (and
naughty parody) of the priapic urge. A facsimile reproduction of the
20-page collage masterpiece O! is included as a separate booklet, and
the book sports a dustjacket that folds out into a poster-size collage.
