Jean-Pierre Hébert is a founding member of the Algorists, a group of computer artists who had been working independently for many years, and then formed a loose association after meeting at SIGGRAPH '95. Hébert's work demonstrates that the computer genuinely creates new visual possibilities and aesthetic enquiries, while at the same time this is an exploration driven entirely by artistic considerations. Although the bulk of Hébert's early pieces were created – just like those of many early innovators – with a plotter, he is remarkable for the range of other media  with which he has experimented. Possibly the most innovative and unusual digital art works to be found are his 'sand pieces' where a steel ball under algorithmic control is driven through sand, reminiscent of Zen gardens.

In 2005, Hébert was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Since 2003 he has been Artist in Residence at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics where he explores the interactions of Art and Science in collaboration with visiting scientists. Since 2007 Hébert has also been Artist in Residence with the Allosphere, an ambitious experimental immersive environment of Media Art Technology at UCSB.