Jonathan Lanier is an artist, educator, and fabricator based in Chicago. His practice engages how tools function as extensions of the body that mediate one’s relationship to the physical world. He focuses on the separation between intention and outcome, and how control gives way to material response. Working with molten metal widens this gap, requiring physical distance and decisions to be made in advance. His current work consists of steel systems that guide molten aluminum to points of overflow, allowing it to spill and accumulate according to the laws of fluid dynamics. As the aluminum solidifies, it ties in and around these systems, locking this interaction in space. The resulting sculptures are artifacts that retain visible signs of use, constraint, and response, registering both material agency and the system’s logic. By prioritizing the design of conditions over prescribed images, Lanier’s work frames authorship as a negotiation between intention and material behavior.
Lanier holds an MFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2023) and a BFA in Sculpture and Ceramics from the University of Alabama (2019). His work has been exhibited at the John David Mooney Foundation, the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, Tiny Table Gallery at Watershed Art & Ecology, The Plan, and the Dinah Washington Gallery, among others. He has received fellowships from the Luminarts Cultural Foundation and Penland School of Craft, as well as the 2025 Material Works Award. Alongside his studio practice, Lanier is actively engaged in teaching, community-based metalworking events, and building inclusive, shared shop environments.