Lincoln Townley Paints Hollywood Legend Al Pacino, Gets Commissioned By The BAFTAs, A Billionaire’s Children’s Charity…And The Krays!

Tereza Pevna | 25th June 2015

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If UK artist Lincoln Townley could have scripted his dream start to 2015, he wouldn’t have dared include what’s actually happened because even he wouldn’t have thought it was possible.

Having been commissioned by some of  the world’s biggest stars, Townley went to Hollywood to present his finished portraits to Charlie Sheen, Harry Dean Stanton and Nick Nolte. Townley, himself a recovering alcoholic, is well-known for portraying the turbulence of men who live their lives on the edge and Sheen said that he had “captured the essence of addiction”.

On being presented with his portrait, Golden Globe winner Nick Nolte said: “I have been a connoisseur of art for many years and I can really feel the energy in Lincoln’s work, it’s very powerful. I’m so impressed, I’ve commissioned him to do another portrait for my study”.

Harry Dean Stanton said: “This is the beginning of a great journey for Lincoln. His work has gone down a storm in LA and when I look at my portrait all I can think is ‘It’s awesome man!’”

Following on from his successful commissions in Hollywood, Townley was asked to join Al Pacino at the Italian Restaurant Gigi’s to present him with a portrait to celebrate his sell-out “Evening-With” tour of the UK. Pacino was so impressed he scheduled a private meeting with Townley a few days later to thank him and arrange for the portrait to be flown back to the United States.

A limited edition print of the portrait was also presented to Gigi restaurant owner Gerald Blazevic.

Townley is due to return to Los Angeles in July present actor Martin Sheen with a portrait commissioned by his son, Charlie Sheen, adding to the growing list of A-list stars painted by Townley.In two further developments, billionaire philanthropist John Caudwell commissioned a portrait of Lionel Richie to be presented to the singing legend at The Caudwell Children’s Charity Butterfly Ball in June which will be auctioned on the night to raise money and awareness for The Caudwell Children’s Charity.

Chantal Rickard, American CEO of BAFTA commissioned a portrait of an iconic Hollywood star which until the event will be a secret, this to will be auctioned at The BAFTA Britannia awards LA in October. Which is attended by all of Hollywoods royalty.

Finally, David Sullivan, Joint-Chairman of West Ham United, commissioned Townley to paint Ronnie and Reggie Kray to mark the release of The Rise of the Krays, a film financed by Sullivan and Terry Brown.

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Sullivan, a collector of Townleys work, said Townley was the only artist who could really capture the forces that made the Krays the men they were. Since I first bought into Townley’s work back in 2013 his paintings have gone up 200% since then so it’s also a fantastic investment”.

With more than half the year still to go, Townley said: 2015 has already been a year thats exceeded my wildest expectations and with most of it still to go Im excited to see whats coming up. Above all, Im privileged and humbled to be able to make my love of art into my career.