biography

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.

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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.

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images

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

Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri

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

Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri

Diptych of Killed Group Portraits (Carl Mydans), 2018

Hand coated ink-jet prints

43,2 × 54 cm framed each

Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri

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 Hine, 2010

C-print

76,2 × 101,6 cm

Rejected, 2017

High definition video, black and white, silent

7h 47' 50" looped

3000 Killed, 2017

High definition video, black and white, silent

100'

Contraband, 2010

Sequence of digital files, color, silent

3'59'' looped

Monument, 2011

Sequence of digital files, black and white, silent

7'52''

The Fall of Comunism as seen in gay pornography, 1998

Video, color

19'

Declassified Wallpaper #2, 2015

photocopies and pins

Dimensions variable

public exhibitions

Albergo Delle Povere

Palermo

Blocks

6.6 – 31.7.2021

Photo: Mike Palazzotto

3rd Industrial Art Biennial

Labin, Croazia

Ride into the Sun

10.10 – 21.11.2020

Photo: Igor Drazic

Kunsthaus Baselland

Basel

Histories of our Time: On collective and personal narratives

13.9 – 10.11.2019

Photo: Gina Folly

Heong Gallery

Downing College Cambridge

Cambridge

Fall into Ruin, Microcinema at the 37th Cambridge Film Festival

9.12.2023

Photo: Jean-Luc Benazet

Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA)

Los Angeles

The Long Take: Mariah Garnett and William E. Jones

16.6 – 27.8.2016

Photo: Christopher Wormald

Saint Louis Art Museum

Saint Louis

Killed

8.2 – 28.4.2013

Photo: Courtesy Saint Louis Art Museum

press

William E. Jones loves pissing people off

Conor Williams

Interview

March 17, 2020

Hand In Glove

Tausif Noor on William E. Jones’s I’m Open to Anything

Tausif Noor

Artforum

April 12, 2019

William E. Jones e Michael Fliri alla galleria Raffaella Cortese

Rossella Moratto

ATP Diary

June 6, 2018

William E. Jones

Galleria Raffaella Cortese | Via Stradella 1

Marco Tagliafierro

Artforum

March 13, 2015

Between Artists: Thom Andersen / William E. Jones

Andrew Lampert

BOMB

September 15, 2013

Porn Yesterday

Ed Halter

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

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

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