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Some artists do not enjoy being labelled the next big thing, but for British painter Lincoln Townley, being dubbed "the next Andy Warhol" by actor Michael Caine is a compliment.
Townley is in Australia for the first time, showing his latest collection Surprise at the Brisbane Powerhouse.
His work falls into two styles, celebrity portraits which sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and darker oil paintings which he said tell a similar story.
"This is looking at the darker, core subconscious side of how we drive ourselves to become successful to become an icon and then what does it take to sustain that iconic stature," he said.
Six years ago Townley was a nightclub promoter and an alcoholic.
"It was more to do with looking at the amount of drugs and alcohol I was using, I'd probably end up in a ditch somewhere."
He used art to turn his life around.
"I don't think [my background] helped me with regards to traditional methods of showing my work, but I think it's gained a lot people who like my story."
In June, a diamond-studded work of the late princess Diana fetched more than $1.6 million and Townley believes his commercial success has seen him shunned by the art establishment.
"I don't care for their acceptance but they're going to have understand the market is changing," he said.
"I think the idea of the gallery driven sale of a piece of art is changing rapidly.
"I've always looked at this from the start as a business because people always say 'art shouldn't be about the money' but the point of it is, if it's not, what else am I going to do?"
The exhibition opens on Thursday.
Topics: contemporary-art, arts-and-entertainment, brisbane-4000, qld
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