Articles

In 2026, Lincoln Townley made his first solo presentation on American soil at Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, bringing fourteen new paintings from the Banker series — represented internationally for the first time by Manchester-based artist production studio KLEIN.

The works — including The Power in the Heart of the City, Legacy Play, Master Asset, and the triptych The Heat of Miami Ambition — continue Townley's sustained interrogation of power, capital, and moral ambiguity in the twenty-first century. Described by Emma Baker, Head of Evening Auctions at Sotheby's London, as combining the psychological distortion of Francis Bacon with the sculptural impasto of Frank Auerbach's finest portraits, the Banker series positions Townley within a lineage of British figurative painting that uses the human form to expose what power conceals.

Fourteen paintings. One conversation. A milestone moment in an accelerating international trajectory.

Represented by De Buck Gallery (NY), Lincoln Townley exhibited at The Armory Show (Frieze New York) at the Javits Center in a hugely significant step in his growth in North America

Frieze's review of 'Human Presence' explores how Bacon's portraits transcend likeness to become sites of existential confrontation, noting the artist's preference for painting from memory and sensation.

Lincoln Townley was a club promoter before his appetite for drugs and sex took over. Michael Odell finds out what happened next...