John Link has an impressive career as a Theatre Director and TV Producer between 1965 – 1995 and from then to 2010 a Director / Senior Tutor at LAMDA.
It is no surprise that he has taken inspiration in his subjects from the theatre. Shakesperian characters often reappear through Link’s work, although not absolute depictions, more the essence of these characters conveyed within his compositions.
In recent years John has moved to Norfolk working full time as a painter with a studio in Norwich.
‘Link’s paintings are colourful, quirky, fun, but in the expressive faces, our first impression is of a pervading melancholia, “that sense of being a bit lost, damaged”. The weight of human self awareness, and our isolation as individuals, are its crux. Colour vitalises, design contains and these cushion the melancholy. There is an imagined conversation: “Who am I? Where am I going?” Pondering existence, perhaps on the verge of some liberating insight? These paintings,like Shakespeare’s plays, hold a lightness alongside an intensity and weave a curious unexpected line between them.’
Taken from a longer article by Mary Goody MA (Courtauld Institute of Art)
“I have been a fan of John Links’s work from the moment I first saw it. The portraits are bright and colourful, which I love. You know immediately which character is being portrayed, and you know there is a story there somewhere. I would fill my house with these painting if I had the room!”
Judi Dench
