Jess Perlitz

Glory Glory

Oct 28 – Dec 17

HOLDING Contemporary is pleased to present Glory Glory, an exhibition of new works by Jess Perlitz, on view from October 28 through December 17, 2022. A reception will take place on Thursday, November 3 from 5-8 PM. Gallery hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12–5 PM, and by appointment.

Jess Perlitz is a Portland-based artist who makes sculptures to consider how the body exists in physical space and becomes articulated through social structures. The work often disrupts established expectations, directing attention to incongruous experiences and the potential for connection alike. Jess has become increasingly recognized for works that engage the body physically. With Glory Glory, she pushes that notion of engagement to create works that are actually never directly engaged but rather always implied. And though this new body of work takes on an emptiness, it is nonetheless still best understood by way of the physical body; this time through a consideration of the surrogate and prosthetic—a stand-in for the body and in place of something missing.

This exhibition is Jess’ second solo exhibition with HOLDING Contemporary. It includes a large-scale sculpture that almost fills the entirety of the floor of the main space, accompanied by additional works that include sculpture, drawing, video, and once a week, the artist inside one of the gallery walls. In reference to this exhibition, Jess talks about holes, considering them concurrently “an emptiness, ache, opening, portal, sex act, and container—all of which the works in Glory Glory share an affinity for.” What we find disarmingly tender is that while the works in this exhibition articulate a quiet erasure, the body of the viewer remains ever urgently implicit.

Jess Perlitz was born in Toronto, Canada, received a BA from Bard College, an MFA from Tyler School of Art, and clown training from the Manitoulin Center for Creation and Performance. Jess is Associate Professor and Head of Sculpture at Lewis & Clark College, and was a co-director of the Portland’s Monuments & Memorials Project. She is the recipient of several awards, notably from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Oregon Arts Commission Joan Shipley Award, and a Joan Mitchell MFA award. In 2019, she was named a Hallie Ford Fellow. Her project, Chorus, is currently installed at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA as part of the museum’s ongoing artists installation series.