William Ingham

"The art of William Ingham demonstrates how the modernist tradition, specifically Abstract Expressionism, has flourished in the Pacific Northwest alongside styles purportedly attuned to spiritual mysticism. This lavishly illustrated volume by distinguished art critic Matthew Kangas is the first full-length study of Ingham's art. It brings to a wider audience the Seattle-born artist's highly gestural and vividly colored abstract paintings, which have developed gradually since his 1978 debut in Seattle's Pioneer Square gallery district." "Exploring gesture, form, scale, color, touch, and texture, Ingham's paintings are exuberant statements. Kangas places the work in the context of the artist's education at the University of Washington School of Art and the rise of modernist painting in Seattle after 1970.". "Tracing the artist's evolution through detailed analyses of individual works, the author builds the case for Ingham's significance and, in so doing, broadens the literature on Pacific Northwest art to include nonregional influences on artists of the area. This publication draws Northwest art closer to other modernist traditions and innovations in American art. The broader context is supported by a bibliography and color illustrations throughout."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.