A native of New Hampshire, Jonathan Hils’s sculpture career spans over 25 years. He is known for his intricate and complex artworks crafted from various materials in varying scales. He has completed numerous domestic and international commissions for municipal, private, and corporate clients. Professor Hils has earned several exhibition awards for his artworks across the US, and he is a former nominee for the USA Artist Fellowship. His works are housed in several museum collections, including the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. He maintains a studio in Norman, Oklahoma, where he explores emerging technologies as a natural evolution of his artistic practice, focusing on human interaction with digital fabrication tools.
His work is inspired by biological and synthetic (human) networks formed strategically from reason, necessity, and chance. Early works using meticulously fabricated linear steel allude to chaos, order, emergence, and aesthetics related to traditional craft production techniques. These ideas continue in his current artwork, but many visual elements are appropriated and augmented through what he terms “digital archeology,” the process of using digitally created content to redefine the visual understanding of images that are systematically exploited, regurgitated, and shared endlessly for our digestion through news distribution, advertising, social media, and artificial intelligence.
