Jess (Collins) (American, 1923-2004) "With Loving Repetition"

Provenance Note: Charles E. Balbach (1934-2024) was a respected Western New York civic leader, arts patron, and dedicated collector whose leadership left a lasting mark on the region’s cultural institutions. A graduate of Harvard University, Balbach combined intellectual rigor with a deep commitment to public service and philanthropy. He served for more than two decades on the board of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery), including a term as President of the Board. During his tenure, he helped guide long-range planning initiatives and strengthen institutional stewardship at a pivotal moment in the museum’s evolution. A thoughtful and disciplined collector, Balbach believed strongly in public access to art and in the responsibility of collectors to support the institutions that sustain cultural life. His legacy reflects a lifetime of civic engagement, connoisseurship, and enduring dedication to the arts.

Jess (Collins) (American, 1923-2004)
Jess (born Burgess Collins) was a California-based artist known for his modernist-real fantasy pastiche and surrealist imagery rooted in mythology, symbolism, and literary reference. Born in Long Beach, California, he was initially trained as a chemist and worked on the production of plutonium for the Manhattan Project before abandoning science in 1949 to pursue art, relocating to San Francisco and enrolling at the California School of Fine Arts. Adopting the mononym “Jess,” he became a central figure in the Bay Area’s postwar avant-garde, where he formed a lifelong personal and intellectual partnership with poet Robert Duncan beginning in 1951. Together, they explored global literature, myth, and archetype, deeply influencing Jess’s complex, collage-like visual language. Active in the Bay Area poetry and art scene, Jess maintained close friendships with artists and poets including Jay DeFeo, Wallace Berman, Helen Adam, and Michael McClure, and co-ran the King Ubu Gallery with painter Harry Jacobus.