A native of New York City, William Innes’s most recent paintings are informed by the landscape of his second home in Northern California. The artist’s colorful palette and active compositions depict not only pure abstraction, but fantastical environments and whimsical landscapes as well. What remains consistent throughout each body of work is the artist’s uniquely animated palette and energetic handling of paint.

Referencing anything from underwater sea life to tropical rainforests and the Golden Gate Bridge, Innes interprets this rather iconic imagery in his own particular style, tracking the movement and rhythms of each environment into dynamic arrangements that gracefully meld the abstract and the figurative.

Much like the artist Chuck Close, who’s technique is a kind of modern version of Pointilism, Innes builds his compositions from planes of often contrasting yet harmonious color that render the depth and form of his subject. Innes’ execution however, is less systematic and incorporates an uninhibited range of techniques to execute a composition.  

Throughout much of his early career, Innes was a professional cyclist, and he continues to attribute much of his visual language to the velocity at which he absorbed the landscapes of Belgium, France and Italy, as well as the USA.

Innes currently resides in Menlo Park California and has had an affinity for the Bay Area School since he was a student at New York State University at Purchase in the early 1990’s. Here he studied under well known artists such as Judith Bernstein, Harriet Schorr and Bob Berlind and was introduced to artists such as Richard Deibenkorn and Paul Cezanne who remain an influence to this day.

William Innes’ artwork is in various private and corporate collections, and has completed a number of commissioned works and public artworks.