In his distinctive paintings and drawings the human condition is illustrated with a lyrical sense of drama and a subtle irony. His figures are wildly distorted, the perspective is tilted on end, and everything is distilled into jagged planes of glorious color.

The application of color in Marcus’ oil pastels and paintings has a nervous anxiety to it, a scratchy hatching of the surface that builds tension like a fingernail on a blackboard. This uneasiness is counter-balanced by fluid compositions that ebb and flow like the best of abstract expressionism.