Lincoln Townley is a contemporary British painter whose work sits at the intersection of abstraction and figuration, exploring power, ambition, and the psychological cost of modern success. Working from imagination rather than direct portraiture, he creates sculptural head-and-shoulders figures that confront the viewer with raw emotional intensity. Bold colour, aggressive mark-making, and heavily worked surfaces reveal subjects who appear simultaneously authoritative and exposed.
“Lincoln Townley’s figures make manifest the existential turmoil of our own Twenty-First Century moment. The influence of Francis Bacon here cannot be denied, and akin to the Twentieth Century master’s radical distortion of the human figure.
In these works, Townley combines the horror and distortion of Bacon with the thick and sculptural paint application synonymous with Frank Auerbach’s best portraits of the 1950s.”
Emma Baker, Head of Evening Auctions, Sotheby’s London.
Through his work and explorations of the human figure, Townley consistently seeks to represent what we go through, and sacrifice of ourselves, in order to succeed.
- Section Painting
- Venue Palazzo Bembo
- Based in Cheshire, UK
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