JESS PERLITZ

Carved basswood, canvas webbing
21” x 15” x 6”
2023

Plaster, concrete, soap, drop cloth, cotton, paint, human hair
11” x 8” x 8”
2023

Fashioned after the dummy heads used in a famous 1962 Alcatraz escape. Acquiring the piece meant purchasing a “dummy” crafted in your own likeness, for the purposes of escape. The Escape Head pictured here is edition 1/5, a rendering of the artist's lover.

Fiberglass reinforced plaster gypsum
10” x 12’ x 11’
2022

Fiberglass, FGR
6' x 11' x 2'
2017

Concrete, water, pump, rubber container
2’ x 2’6” x 3’3”
2017

The sculpture is a slow/quiet fountain.
(in the permanent collection of the Boise Art Museum)

Concrete & concrete sealer
24” x 16” x 19”
2019

Steel, hand cranked air raid siren, chair
3’ x 7’ x 25’
2017

Crank the air raid siren for someone sitting in the chair to finally feel it.

Burnt stump, water, humidifier
1’6” x 1’6” x 2’6”
2021

The sculpture smokes continually.

Fiberglass, Aqua-Resin
5’ x 14’ x 8’
2025

Concrete gypsum
approx. 8’ x 9’ x 3’
2021

100lbs of clay, bowl, water, rag, body
1hr live performance
2017

Installation in Reed’s Cooley Gallery library caseworks
Vitrines, concrete gypsum
2024

neon, wood
2’6” x 2’6”
2021

Concrete, tempera paint pucks, 2 weeks of rain
36” x 40’”x 24”
2024

Mud dyed fabric, sand
2’ x 6” x 16’
2021

Steel
90” x 15” x 24”
2019

Abaca pulp
approx. 9” x 7” x 7 1/2” each
2019

Plaster
61 1/2” x 22” x 24”
2019

Clamp lights, LED bulbs, fabric coated wire, wood, paint
Variable Dimensions
2017

Video stills from a 5 min. video where the artist is a ghost, moving slowly in and out of visibility.

Styrofoam, cement gypsum, wood, paint
5' x 4' x 14'
2017
 

Wood, rope
6” x 4” x 10’
2018

Burnt basswood, charcoal
4’ x 8’ x 5’
2017

Steel, Structolite, fabric, motor
10’ x 7’ x 4’
2017

The flag waves slowly back and forth, rubbing against the gallery wall behind and leaving a mark.

Video still from a 5 min. video
2017

A five minute video loop set to Bach’s Cello Suite NO. 6 in D major. In the video the artist is sitting with lunch: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chocolate cupcake, and grape soda. She slowly makes her face.

Stills from video

Burnt wood
6' x 7' x 14'
2017

Wood, stucco, paint optical viewer, manual pump, East River water
15’ x 5’ x 11’
2010

Installed at Socrates Sculpture Park, the climbable structure was located on the edge of the East River (NY).  Equipped with a manual water pump, viewers could pull water up from the river in front of them and dump it down the facade of the sculpture. The optical viewer provided a magnified view of the Manhattan skyline.

Poster, fabric, light
6” x 12” poster,  4’6” x 4’6” x 5’2” lump
2013

A live performance in which the artist rotates slowly to music for the audience

Poster, fabric, bucket, body
8 1/2” x 11” poster, 3’ x 2’ x 7’ rainbow
2010

The poster is posted on notice boards and every other day the artist is a rainbow – leaning with forehead against the wall, always in a different location, no movement for the 25 minutes.

Fabric, steel, house rubble
9' x 3' x 16'
2015

This project, Chorus, is installed in a cell of the Eastern State Penitentiary.  ESP was considered the first modern penitentiary in the US and was operational from 1829-1971.  Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the former prison is now open as a museum and National Historic Landmark.  

Traveling to various prisons across the US between 2014-15, I posed the question: if you could sing a song and have that song heard, what would it be?  

Nearly 100 recorded songs from these visits can be listened to over the museum audio guide.  A selection of the songs are projected into a cell, layered over each other and triggered by the viewers presence.

Mirror, Styrofoam, cable, motor, beanbag chairs
Variable dimensions
2017

Burnt wood, abaca pulp
18’ x 5’ x 6’
2019

Steel, brass, patina, casters
2011

A playable lectern (made for Temple Contemporary).
When a platform becomes a podium becomes a pedestal becomes a platform again.  When the how and why of speaking becomes more potent than what's actually said.