Jess was born Burgess Franklin Collins in Long Beach California. Jess initially was educated as a chemist and in his career worked on the production of plutonium for the Manhattan Project. In 1949 he abandoned his scientific career and moved to San Francisco where he enrolled in the California School of Fine Arts.

The work of Burgess Collins, known professionally as Jess, stands apart from any particular movement in modern and contemporary art, though affinities with Surrealism, Action Painting, Pop Art and California Funk are sometimes evident in his work.

Jess is best known for his paintings and collages that he calls "paste-ups." These combine fragments from magazine illustrations, engravings, comic strips and sometimes jigsaw puzzles.