Mark McCoy was raised in a lakefront town in Illinois and spent his youth reenacting scenes from World War II, reading ghost stories, and exploring the nature preserve near his home. He graduated with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts from Northern Illinois University before relocating to New York City to earn his Masters in Fine Arts from School of Visual Arts at age 23. In that time, McCoy has amassed an enormous movie library, played in over a dozen musical groups including Charles Bronson, Das Oath, and Ancestors, and ten years ago founded Youth Attack Records, which he currently runs with his co-conspirator Thalia Mavros.
McCoy's narrative work explores concepts of identity formation, socialized sexuality, and psychological ramifications of developmental behavioral patterns. Incorporating various fields of media including drawing, photography, and photocopy his compositions bear the results of his own continual critical self-analysis and intensive research into the esoteric occult and parapsychology.
His first book, WOUND, published in 2008 is a collection of collage art focusing on man's impulsive desire for self-destruction and champions the concept of Death as a vital developmental process in reaching a higher understanding of the Self. The book is divided into key chapters that tells a story. Each collage can be interpreted as an externalized examination of selfhood and its relative corresponding reaction in nature.
He has designed the artwork for over 100 record albums, writes music reviews, short stories, and essays. Most recently, his work was exhibited at Fontanelle Gallery, Fuse Gallery, Tiny Creatures Gallery, and Juanita and Juan's. Mark McCoy and his work have been featured in ANP Quarterly, Vice Magazine, Skyscraper, Re/Fuse, and Harvest magazine, and included in the "Punk Is Dead, Punk Is Everything" book released in 2007. His second solo exhibition at LA's Hope Gallery entitled "HALLOW" opens Friday March 13th, 2009.