William E. Jones

Works

Triptych of Killed Group Portraits (Carl Mydans)2018

Hand coated ink-jet prints

24,5 × 37 cm; 46,5 × 58,8 × 4 cm framed each

Diptych of Killed Group Portraits (John Vachon)2018

Hand coated ink-jet prints

22,5 × 32,5 cm; 43,4 × 53,2 × 4 cm framed each

Diptych of Killed Group Portraits (Carl Mydans)2018

Hand coated ink-jet prints

43,2 × 54 cm framed each

18712011

4 hand coated pigment prints

38,7 × 55,9 cm; 40,5 × 57,5 cm framed each

Aggressive Child2010

Sequence of digital files, color, silent

Psychic Driving2014

Sequence of digital files, color, sound

National Photo #3 (Mont Saint Michel)2010

Archival pigment print

61,9 × 80 cm

National Photo #4 (The Bahamas)2010

Archival pigment print

54,6 × 69,9 cm

National Photo #1 (Saint Petersburg)2010

Archival pigment print

56,2 × 74,3 cm

Two Photographs by Lewis Hine2010

C-print

76,2 × 101,6 cm

Rejected2017

High definition video, black and white, silent

7h 47' 50" looped

3000 Killed2017

High definition video, black and white, silent

100'

Survey, David Kordansky Gallery, New York, 2022

Survey, David Kordansky Gallery, New York, 2022

William E. Jones: Killed, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, 2013

Contraband2010

Sequence of digital files, color, silent

3'59'' looped

Monument2011

Sequence of digital files, black and white, silent

7'52''

The Fall of Comunism as seen in gay pornography1998

Video, color

19'

Raised in a Lie, ValstaKonst, Valsta, Sweden, 2023

Declassified Wallpaper #22015

photocopies and pins

Dimensions variable

The Modern Institute, 14–20 Osborne Street, Glasgow, 2017

Biography

William E. Jones was born in 1962 in Canton (OH). He lives and works in Los Angeles.
He works with Galleria Raffaella Cortese since 2010.

Jones’ work is characterized by the study of archival material. Over the course of three decades he has created films, videos, photographs and written books that are all able to reorganize existing cultural materials. He offers an interpretation of some cross-sections of American society focusing on episodes from recent history that have either slipped into oblivion or have been purposefully forgotten. He intervenes on material such as found footage available on the internet, old photographs, documents, images from magazines and books that he uses to create collages. Some of these materials are rearranged to make films.

Jones combines a high level of intellectual research with formal experimentation, revealing passion and interest in socio-political issues. He has been exploring themes such as the psychedelic visual potential of Cold War military footage, the hidden sides of the American society, the representation of gay men in sources such as Eastern European pornography. His work in the visual arts is then strongly related and part of a wider research that leads Jones to be author of several books and essays. He is a contributor to Artforum International.

A number of solo exhibitions have been devoted to the artist including: Survey, David Kordansky Gallery, New York (2022); Homage to the Square, Southfield, Michigan (2019); Fall into Ruin, microcinema at the 37th Cambridge Film Festival, Heong Gallery, Downing College Cambridge, Cambridge (2017); The Long Take, two-person show, Mariah Garnett and William E. Jones, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), Los Angeles (2016); Silent Cinema – William E. Jones, Model Workers, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart (2015); Houseguest: William E. Jones, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2013); William E. Jones: Killed, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis (2013); Killed, Wexner Center, Columbus (2009); William E. Jones, ar/ge kunst Gallery Museum, Bolzano (2009).

He has taken part in several group shows such as: Queering the Narrative, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany (2022); Pathologically Social, O-Town House, Los Angeles, California (2021); Collected Works, Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada (2019); Histories of our time. On Collective and Personal Narratives, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel (2019); F_RONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art_, Cleveland (2018); Killed Negatives: Unseen Images of 1930s America, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018); Affinities or The Weight of Cinema, National Gallery of Art, Washington (2017); Ordinary Pictures, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2016); Patrice Chéreau. An Imaginary Museum, Collection Lambert, Avignon (2015).

In 2014 he took part in the 14th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice; in 2009 in the Nordic Pavilion at 53rd Venice Biennale, Venice.

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Gallery Exhibitions

Public exhibitions

Raised In a Lie
10 February – 14 May 2023
ValstaKonst, Svezia
Blocks
6 June – 31 July 2021
Albergo Delle Povere, Palermo
Ride into the Sun
10 October – 21 November 2020
3rd Industrial Art Biennial, Labin, Croazia
Histories of our Time: On collective and personal narratives
13 September – 10 November 2019
Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel
Fall into Ruin, Microcinema at the 37th Cambridge Film Festival
1 January 2017
Heong Gallery, Downing College Cambridge, Cambridge
The Long Take: Mariah Garnett and William E. Jones
16 June – 27 August 2016
Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), Los Angeles
Killed
8 February – 28 April 2013
Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis

Press

William E. Jones on Cinema's Return to Crudeness
Frieze
2022
William E. Jones loves pissing people off
Interview
March 17, 2020
Hand In Glove
Artforum
April 12, 2019
William E. Jones e Michael Fliri alla galleria Raffaella Cortese
ATP Diary
June 6, 2018
William E. Jones
Artforum
March 13, 2015
Between Artists: Thom Andersen / William E. Jones
BOMB
September 15, 2013
Porn Yesterday
Artforum
February 22, 2010

Publications

I Didn't See It Coming
William E. Jones
We Heard You Like Books
Los Angeles
2023
I'm Open to Anything
William E. Jones
We Heard You Like Books
Los Angeles
2019
True Homosexual Experiences: Boyd McDonald and Straight to Hell
William E. Jones
We Heard You Like Books
Los Angeles
2016
Imitation of Christ
William E. Jones
MACK
London
2013
Killed : Rejected Images of the Farm Security Administration
William E. Jones
PPP Editions
New York
2010
Heliogabalus
2nd Cannons Publications
Los Angeles
2009
William E. Jones: Arge Kunst #1
Luigi Fassi
Mousse Publishing
Milan
2009
Willam E. Jones: Tearoom
Texts by William E. Jones, George Painter, Michael Sicinski, Bret Wood, and Martin D. Yant
2nd Cannons Publications
Los Angeles
2008
Halsted Plays Himself
William E. Jones
Semiotext(e) / Native Agents
2001