William E. Jones was born in 1962 in Canton (OH). He lives and works in Los Angeles.

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); FRONT 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.