Marek Szczesny was born in Poland in 1939. In the latter half of the 1950's he irregularly attended the State Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk as a free, auto-didactic, student. In the 1960’s he was associated with a group of artists from the 'ZAK' students club in Gdansk. He worked as a scenographer for the group, created posters and showed his first works.

In 1978 Szczesny left Poland for Paris where he obtained a Ford Foundation scholarship. Since this time he has  exhibited more than 30 solo exhibitions, as well as participating in many group exhibitions. Selected exhibitions include Agi Schoning, Gallery, Zurich; Rosa Turetsky Gallery, Geneve; FIAC, Paris; Akie Aricchi, Paris; The National Museum in Poznan, Poland, “Polish Art of 20th Century”; Contemporary Center of Art, Toulon, France; Osaka 2001 Triennale International Exhibition of Contemporary Art; and Galeria Foksal, Warsaw. Between 1996 and 2008 he was awarded grants in the United States four times: Edward Albee Foundation in New York; Bemis Center in Omaha; the Pollock-Krasner Foundation; and the Gottleib Foundation, New York. He lives and works in Paris.