March 21, 2022

Portland Art Museum Acquires Art Professor’s Sculpture

A sculpture—titled Burned Beast—by Jess Perlitz, associate professor of art and studio head of sculpture, is now part of the Portland Art Museum’s collection.

Burned Beast, by Jess Perlitz, 2017. Burned basswood, 48 x 30 x 54 inches. Burned Beast, by Jess Perlitz, 2017. Burned basswood, 48 x 30 x 54 inches.

The Portland Art Museum recently acquired Burned Beast, a contemporary sculpture created by Jess Perlitz, associate professor of art and studio head of sculpture.

The sculpture, which stands nearly three feet in height, is carved out of basswood and charred. According to Perlitz, it’s built like a homemade hobbyhorse, with a head that resembles a mythical, vaguely familiar animal, looking at the viewer with a faint smile. A smudge or shadow of its form, created in rubbed charcoal, is on the wall nearby. 

Jess Perlitz, associate professor of art and studio head of sculpture Jess Perlitz, associate professor of art and studio head of sculpture

Perlitz says that one of the references for the work is an image found in a 14th-century tapestry depicting the “Beast from the Sea” that heralds the end of the world in the Book of Revelation. But Perlitz’s beast is questioning rather than threatening.

“Instead of presenting an ominous or didactic image of fear, the sculpture is the aftermath or container of our fear,” she explains. “In many ways, that is typical of my work … I am addressing how form facilitates, or holds, our bodily concerns and how we come to make meaning.”

Others have commented on how the sculpture resonates with our time. “At this moment, in 2022, Perlitz’s Burned Beast feels extremely timely, as if it has embodied our recent climate disasters and the pandemic,” says Grace Kook-Anderson, Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art at the Portland Art Museum. “Yet it remains inquisitive and standing.”

Art Department Arts@LC