Jón Vilhjámur is of Icelandic / Scottish origin but his mother Katrín Árnadóttir grew up in the United States, after being taken away a
f his foster parents.

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Katrín raised her son in Berkeley, California, where she served as director of the Rector's Office of the University of Berkeley for 30 years.
 

Jón Vilhjálmur graduated from The Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley and has served the goddess of art ever since.  
 

Scientists at Berkeley University were at the forefront of atomic and nuclear research during Jón Vilhjálmur's growing up and studying years
who has since painted his work with reference
to the largest and smallest units of matter in the universe.

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The research focused not least on the technology that led to the making of The Great Hadron Collider, which Jón Vilhjálmur often refers to.  its morphology.

His powerful and colorful works more often than not contain philosophical speculations with quotations in physics, biology
and classic myths.