British contemporary artist Lincoln Townley is preparing for his fourth Venice Biennale show in 2026, to feature his latest collection of Banker portraits for his worldwide collector base.
Townley’s distinctive painting style blends abstraction and figuration to explore the inner lives of his subjects. His bold use of color and dramatic brushstrokes creates a sense of urgency and movement that echoes the themes of isolation and vulnerability that were central also to the art of Francis Bacon.
Bold colour, dramatic brushstrokes, urgency & movement
Sotheby’s (London) have written that “Lincoln Townley’s figurative paintings are fictive portrayals drawn entirely from the artist’s imagination. The head and shoulders portraits depict be-suited businessmen sporting viscerally painted faces that loom out of abyssal backdrops and emerge directly into our own space. They are an evocative depiction of greed within the world’s financial institutions and the ‘money men’ behind them. Townley’s unwitting subjects are those who go out of their way to do the things that unsuccessful people are unwilling or unable to do."
