My name is Mark Sunshine. I was born in New York City in the winter of 1967. I am adopted and my adoptive parents are not artistic or musical.

My childhood was spent in Brooklyn and East Windsor NJ. My adolescence and young adulthood were spent in Marlboro NJ and from the year 1994 on I have had a life experience of trials and tribulations to say the least.

My life is split between music and art and sometimes the two overlap.

More attention lately has been gained by my musical persona, so I will detail this first, briefly.

MUSIC
Back in the day, after my college experience, I became possessed. I needed to express myself musically. I yearned to learn the drums. I purchased a 5 piece Pearl. After teaching myself, becoming competent yet not excellent, I decided to try my hand at singing. After years of practice and performance, I now am a vocalist. I don't do opera but I consider my voice an instrument and utilize it as best I can.

About that process of learning and my recollections: I wrote a long passage - read the words and bored myself to tears detailing the minutia of my entry into what might best be called semi-pro music. What is important is -- the NOW.

I devote a great deal of my time and effort toward RIOTGOD, my band. Two members of Monster Magnet's current line-up are in the band: Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino, drums and bass. More can be experienced here at our MySpace.

In addition to being the vocalist for my band, I also create all the music for my videos and animated creations. I am available to compose music for film or video. I use Ableton Live and a host of other tools in my sonic endeavors.

ART
I am driven by the overwhelming need to create -- this "affliction" with all its ups and downs, has been a presence in my life since I was a very young child. I've struggled to cope with this life energy as best I can. In my youth I persistantly misused my gifts, misguided and unconfident I was until even years after I left the School of Visual Arts where I went to college at one time. While at SVA, I studied under quite a few comic masters: Harvey Kurtzman, Will Eisner and Gary Panter to name a few. I have my own little comic world and characters.

My most vibrant satisfying experience is to paint, draw and arrange patterns but I also like life drawing. This exuberant feeling gained through creating is only trumped by getting paid for the act.

My commercial ventures, anything that pays are displayed at marksunshine.com. I keep that side of my creative life seperate, like the main course from dessert. Paid work just had to be at a different domain than this one. I decided to keep the efforts seperate when this website was nothing more than a glorified, dated testimony to a series of assorted, badly catalogued triflings.



m.s - 04-22-08