FRANCE-LISE MCGURN
b. 1983, United KingdomFrance-Lise McGurn’s work spills out of the traditional picture plane and on to gallery walls and floors. Inspired by found materials and city life, her energetic figurative paintings—often realised in a deceptively “cute” pastel palette—bring the viewer into McGurn’s intimate, emotionally rich three-dimensional world.
Early Years
France-Lise McGurn was born in Glasgow in 1983, one of five siblings. Her mother was the artist and designer Rita McGurn, and her father Peter was an architect. France-Lise McGurn remembers her mum would “paint on the walls, on the carpets, on the floors, everything”. France-Lise McGurn earned her BA in fine art at Duncan of Jordanstone College in Dundee in 2005 and was awarded a scholarship that allowed her to develop her painting practice in Florence. She gained her MA in painting from the Royal College of Art in London and during this period also studied at Hunter College of Art in New York City.
France-Lise McGurn: Artworks
McGurn’s paintings, disregarding the edges of the canvas and climbing walls, fizz with active energy, whether that’s confrontational, happy or dream-like. Using found materials as a source, including film stills, magazine pages or photographs, McGurn paints quickly, obscuring and highlighting different areas of her chosen image with calligraphic brush strokes and bringing to life human figures and their range of emotions. The physical closeness of McGurn’s figures evokes the intimacy of city living.
- Bachelorette (2020), a twisted mass of human bodies highlighted in shades of bright orange, egg yellow and deep blue, is influenced by Jacopo Pontormo’s 1528 work Deposition from the Cross, which McGurn saw during her time in Florence.
- McGurn’s 2025 exhibition Bad TV highlighted the dichotomy between perceptions of what is considered culture and what is thought of as background noise. MOvie sTillS features reprints of movie posters and credits, while Test Card F references a familiar image to British television viewers during the 1970s and 1980s: the girl, the clown and the noughts and crosses.
- A work from her 2026 exhibition Charm Offensive subverts the photo of Katy Perry taken when she returned from space. White and purple paint on the artwork alters the background, highlighting the contradictions inherent in the original image—McGurn said: “This is an image of a woman coming down and kissing the Earth that, by going into space, she has done something to harm.”
France-Lise McGurn: Select Exhibitions
Select Solo Exhibitions
- The Charm Offensive, Dundee Contemporary Arts (2026)
- Dee-Tour, Doumushaus, Basel (2026)
- Bad TV, Massimodecarlo, Hong Kong (2025)
- Strawberry, Massimodecarlo, London (2024)
- What Everyone Wants, The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2024)
- Hostess, Simon Lee Gallery, London (2023)
- Aloud, The Exposé, Simon Lee Gallery, London (2022)
- In Emotia, Tramway, Glasgow (2020)
- Bodytronic, Kunsthaus Pasquart, Biel (2020)
- Sleepless, Tate Britain, London (2019)
- 0141, Frutta Gallery, Glasgow (2018)
- Archaos, Alison Jacques Gallery, London (2017)
- Mondo Throb, Bosse and Baum, London (2016)
- 3am, Satellites Programme, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh (2015)
Select Group Exhibitions
- I Only Have Apple Juice (Bonny Don’t Live at Home), The Coach House, Glasgow (2026)
- Hysteric Grammar, Southbank Centre, London (2025)
- Intimacy Rarely Makes Sense of Things, Pond Society, Shanghai (2024)
- Matching Mother-Daughter Tattoos, Margot Samel, New York City (2023)
- Threshold, Simon Lee Gallery, London (2023)
- Drawing Biennial 2021, Drawing Room, London (2021)
- Mark Making: Perspectives on Drawing, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2019)
- Virginia Woolf: An Exhibition Inspired by Her Writings, Tate St Ives (2018) (and touring)
- Wall-Sun-Sun, Une Une Une, Perpignan (2017)
- Radical Vulnerability, Caustic Coastal, Manchester (2016)
- Only With a Light Touch Will You Write Well, Freely and Fast, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow (2015)
- Endogenous, Maria Stenfors Gallery, London (2013)
- Royal College of Art Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London (2012)
- Boum Euro, Cussler Gallery, Berlin (2011)
- Forgotten Bar, Art Forum Berlin (2009)
- France-Lise McGurn, Jana Euler, Heike Kabisch, Low Salt Gallery, Glasgow (2007)
- Great Artspectations, Graduate Exhibition, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh (2006)
Further Reading
- France-Lise McGurn’s Instagram
- 2026 interview in the Guardian
- 2025 interview in Doris Press
- 2019 conversation from Tate
France-Lise Mcgurn FAQs
What is France-Lise McGurn’s relationship with Glasgow?
McGurn’s work is influenced by being brought up in the metropolitan Scottish city, and the identity, humour and pride of Glaswegians. However, it wasn’t until she took part in a touring exhibition in 2018 about the writings of Virginia Woolf (she had to physically tour with the show because she created a new piece of art on the walls of each space) that she realised she had a strong affinity with Glasgow.
What materials and techniques does France-Lise McGurn use?
Inspired by family photos, film stills and adverts, McGurn blows up these images and prints them on canvases. Sometimes she will add a lot of paint, sometimes only a little.
She is known for her pastel palette, although many of her pieces use brighter, deeper shades. She prepares her canvases with PVA and clear Gesso so they become slippy, then paints quickly, with watered-down colours or white, then cutting through that with a more pigmented shade. Marker pen strokes produce strong yet flowing outlines of figures.
Who was France-Lise McGurn’s mother?
France-Lise McGurn’s mother was the artist, set designer and interior designer Rita McGurn, who died in 2015. She notably knitted “soft sculptures”. Remembering her mother in a 2026 interview, France-Lise McGurn said: “She had this radical feminist idea that you don’t wait for the studio. Painting can happen around real life—and it had to.” The 2023 exhibition Matching Mother/Daughter Tattoos brought their work together.
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