Sara Pope British, b. 1973

Sara Pope is a British contemporary artist celebrated for her ultra-glossy, hyper-saturated portraits of lips: seductive icons that fuse desire, beauty, and the language of consumer culture. Drawing from her background in fashion design and art direction, Pope channels the polish of advertising imagery into paintings that explore the tension between attraction and perfection.

Her process begins with makeup and photography, by painting her subjects’ lips, capturing their expressions under sculpted light, and translating those moments into meticulously layered oil paintings, sometimes infused with real lipstick. The results are luminous and cinematic, oscillating between intimacy and idealisation.

Pope’s has exhibited internationally, including at the Saatchi Gallery (London), Next Street Gallery (Paris), and SCOPE Miami, and is held in major private and public collections – notably the Vatican Collection, where she became the first British female artist in over seventy years to be included. Her collectors range from royalty and celebrities to global brands, and her collaborations include a project with Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones.

In 2024, Pope was commissoned to paint a one of a kind pair of lips for Agony + Ecstasy Gallery, CHERRY BOMB,  where it was debuted and exhibited at Atzaro Agroturisimo as part of our summer exhibition. This piece is emblematic of Ibiza and echoes the cherries widely recognised for the iconic nightclub Pacha.