Artist Statement
The colonization of life by technology is an alien invasion, a close encounter of the third kind, with clear and present repercussions that are forming a new biology. I invent structures that are rudimentary bodies — physical entities that stand as an assembly of artificial organs. Their common function is the display of video, animation or other repeatable phenomena; what they encourage is the close observation of pseudoscientific experiments.
Genuine forms of life are grown in these imitation ecosystems, and they provide a symbolic content that motivates the manufacture of specific structures. The installation Third Nature (2015) is a garden for English Ivy, an invasive species carried to America by European colonists. Planted to grow over a model, suggesting space as the final frontier of colonization, Ivy is a species that mimics the intrusive nature of humanity’s overgrowth.
Open System (2015) is an architectural habitat for a yellow canary named HAL, a member of a species historically employed as a sacrificial animal sentinel. Life support systems provide HAL with food and water, while an automated iPhone tries to teach him to sing its ringtone. The biopolitical suggestions in these works attempt to frame humanity as the carrier of a powerful technological contagion, a virulent commodity that drives economic growth.
A cellular logic is a key approach in my work, as the replication of a cell is related to the mutation of my ideas. During the design and fabrication of these projects they divide themselves into possibilities for future works, and this self-similarity has led to increasingly elaborate constructions. A cell is the building block of life, a replicating automaton that structures a living organism, although the logic of the cell also organizes technology through networks of devices such as the cellular-phone. My projects attempt to direct such automated materials, from microprocessors to microorganisms, towards self-sufficiency as sculptural systems.
CV
EDUCATION
2015 Columbia University, MFA Visual Arts
2008 Minneapolis College of Art and Design, BFA Photography
2007 New York Studio Residency Program. Brooklyn, New York
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014 Anti-Newton. Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Minneapolis, MN.
2012 Sighthouse. Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015
Organic Situation. Koenig & Clinton, New York, NY.
fl0ating p0int. Judith Charles, New York, NY.
Columbia MFA Thesis Exhibition. Fisher Landau Center for Art, New York, NY.
2014
Columbia MFA First Year Exhibition. Wallach Art Gallery, New York, NY.
2013
Who Wants Flowers When You’re Dead? The Poor Farm, Little Wolf Wisconsin, WI.
2012
Northern Spark Festival. Minneapolis, MN.
2011
Jerome Fellowship Exhibition. MCAD Gallery, Minneapolis, MN.
2010
Shoot the Moon. 1419 Gallery, Minneapolis, MN.
AWARDS
2014 Mildred’s Lane Fellowship & Residency
2013 Dean’s Travel Grant, Columbia University
2010 Jerome Fellowship for Emerging Artists
2010 Artists’ Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board
2009 Finalist, Jerome Fellowship for Emerging Artists
2008 West Photo Merit Scholarship for Photography, MCAD
PUBLICATIONS
2015 Williams, Jonathan B. “Interview with Liz Deschenes.” Third Rail Quarterly.
2012 Williams, Jonathan B. “Dish Fulfillment.” WOPOZI
2010 Williams, Jonathan B. “The Seventh Seal of Cinema.” Art Review & Preview.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2014 PRX/KUMD Duluth Public Radio, Radio Gallery Interview, 9 March.
2012 Thorne, James. “Sighthouse.” Cool Hunting, 24 October.
2012 Riddle, Mason. “Forward into the Past.” The Star Tribune, 13 September.
2012 Marosi, Marty. “The Sight Keeper.” Minnesota Daily, 6 September.
2011 Thomas, Jonathan. “Jonathan Bruce Williams.” Jerome Fellowship Catalog.