Bard’s characters brought to life on canvas at Battle gallery
Link has a growing reputation among collectors, including some of the UK’s best known figures, for his unique Shakespeare-inspired paintings.
Now working out of his studio in Brighton, he is preparing for a major exhibition at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London in April 2014 as part of its celebration of Shakespeare’s 450th anniversary.
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Hide AdThis will be followed by a further show at The Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
Link has a lifetime’s experience of Shakespeare, having worked for 45 years as an actor and TV and theatre director with a particular interest in the playwright’s work - an interest that he has now transferred from live production to works on canvas.
Curator and art historian Mary Goody writes: “He knows them (the characters) in the singular way an actor knows, becomes, his character.
“Rarely does someone painting come at what they paint in such a thoroughly embodied way.
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Hide Ad“Self-portraits aside, it is a unique perspective – he has lived, breathed, walked, cried, laughed and spoken them, after all.”
Many of Link’s works have been acquired by well-known figures in the world of show business.
Dame Judi Dench said: “I have been a fan of John Link’s work from the moment I first saw it.
“The paintings are bright and colourful, which I love, and although the portraits do not look like any particular actor, you know immediately which character is being portrayed, and you know there is a story in there somewhere.”
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Hide AdHis work has also been bought by collectors with no particular connection with, or even knowledge of, Shakespeare.
As Link suggests, this is because Shakespeare’s subject – essentially that of the human condition – is eternally relevant.
Link shows us characters, people, musing on the nature of existence, edging towards some momentary insight, their life’s experience etched into their faces.
Says Link: “I am absorbed by the landscape of the face. In some particular way, faces reflect the human journey and, as rooms have ghosts so, too, do faces.”
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Hide AdLinks paintings can now been seen at Saffron, where their continually changing Autumn Exhibition runs until November 21. Details from www.SaffronGallery.co.uk, call 01424 772 130 or email [email protected]. Gallery open 10am-5pm Mon-Sat.