Marcus Cope, Artist: Memory Made Myth

Marcus Cope in a black shirt, crouching in front of two of his large, brightly coloured paintings with fires in them — Marcus Cope. Courtesy the artist and ARTUNER, via Whitewall. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration.

Last updated: 28 October 2026

Marcus Cope is the London artist behind large, dreamlike paintings that turn family memories into strange, often funny modern myths. Here you will find our take on his work, where to see Marcus Cope now, how to buy a painting, and his small flaming-mouth painting in this year’s War Child auction.

Our take on Marcus Cope

Cope paints scenes from his own life, then lets them turn surreal. Childhood bedrooms become stages, flowers turn into pools, and giant insects appear. His big canvases are often on jute, and he reworks them for years. “Every canvas insists on its own life, its own time,” he told Whitewall in 2025.

His War Child piece, Burning Lies, is oil on paper mounted on plywood. A huge open mouth, full of white teeth, floats in a magenta and violet night sky. Instead of a face, flames rise up from the top lip. Below it, on speckled brown ground, a small pale figure stands beside a dark shadow. The paint is thick and scratchy, so the image is menacing and comic at the same time.

He describes his method as “a conversation with the painting”, in the same interview. That patience has paid off. His work is in the Pinault Collection and the Arts Council Collection, and he is in a Villa Carmignac show with Warhol and Lichtenstein this year. Even so, nobody had bid on this lot when I checked on 28 October.

Marcus Cope: the essentials

Born in Bath in 1980; lives and works in London, according to ARTUNER.
Studied Fine Art at Coventry University (BA, 2002), then at Chelsea College of Art and Design (postgraduate diploma, 2004; MA, 2006).
Had his first institutional solo show, Silver Linings, at PEER in London in 2022.
Many of his paintings draw on places and memories from Cyprus, where he did a residency at the Cyprus College of Art in 2003.
His own site lists works in the Arts Council Collection, the Pinault Collection and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin.
Works with ARTUNER, which staged his 2025 solo show Come to Think of It in London.

Where to see Marcus Cope now

Now, until 1 November: Sea, Pop & Sun (group), Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles, France, 25 April to 1 November 2026.
Coming up: Sound & Vision 2026, a War Child charity auction online from 27 October to 12 November 2026, with the works on view at Iconic Images Gallery, London, 6 to 8 November. The piece is Burning Lies (2026), oil on paper on plywood, 15 x 21 cm (5.9 x 8.3 in), lot page.
Drawing Biennial 2026 (group), Drawing Room, London, 16 April to 23 June 2026.
Come to Think of It (solo), ARTUNER at The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London, 19 to 23 September 2025.
Silver Linings (solo), PEER, London, 29 April to 11 June 2022, reported by Artdaily.

How to buy a Marcus Cope painting

Marcus Cope does not have any prints on sale. These are the ways to buy his work:

Burning Lies, 2026: a small oil on paper on plywood in the War Child Sound & Vision auction, bidding from £100 until 12 November 2026 (bid here).
Smaller paintings: through ARTUNER, such as Overcome (2024), oil on canvas, 51 x 71 cm (20.1 x 28 in), price on enquiry.
Large paintings: his big canvases, up to 3 metres wide, are also through ARTUNER, price on enquiry.

Marcus Cope FAQs

Which gallery works with Marcus Cope?

ARTUNER, which has shown him in London, Turin and Berlin, including his 2025 solo show Come to Think of It.

What does Marcus Cope paint?

Large, dreamlike oil paintings drawn from his own memories of family, childhood and travel, often on jute and full of surreal details.

Is Marcus Cope’s work in public collections?

Yes. His site lists the Arts Council Collection, the Pinault Collection and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.

Where can I see Marcus Cope’s work in London?

His War Child piece, Burning Lies, is on view at Iconic Images Gallery from 6 to 8 November 2026.

Marcus Cope