For Townley, London is not a setting but a state of mind: a city of ambition and consequence, where wealth, risk and survival coexist. As recounted in his book The Hunger, his own experience of that world continues to inform the psychological charge of his paintings.

Showing at the London Art Fair with the Klein Gallery, Townley showcases 6 new Banker portraits which mark a defining statement within Townley’s ongoing exploration of power, identity and the human condition.

They will remain testaments to the city’s power - and to Townley’s ability to turn its energy into art that endures.

Represented by De Buck Gallery (NY), Lincoln Townley exhibited at The Armory Show (Frieze New York) at the Javits Center — a major step in his North American expansion following Art Miami. His new works explored the psychology of ambition and the pace of global markets, showcasing his dynamic oil technique, vivid use of colour, and ongoing SUCCESS series, attracting strong interest from international collectors and advisors.

For Townley, The Armory Show marks a key milestone in his global progression. As one of North America’s leading art fairs, it aligns his work with themes of ambition, power, and the cost of success. Exhibiting in New York — a city driven by aspiration and risk — echoes his visual and psychological preoccupations. Now under the Frieze banner, The Armory Show further establishes Townley’s international presence and the impact of his SUCCESS series.

“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."