We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mark Baranowski a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

From as far back as I can remember. As a child, nothing made me happier than either putting my creative ideas (written or drawn) to paper, or gazing mesmerized at the moving images on my grandparents’ TV screen. Fictional characters quickly became my closest friends, and I longed to be a part of their world. By the time I was ten years old, this longing had expanded to the world of music.

Mark, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Born in Buffalo, New York during April of 1974, I was the the first and only child of parents who divorced soon after. While much of my early life was spent with my loving and supportive grandparents (both maternal and paternal), it’s more accurate to say that their television sets and record players were my true babysitters. I was never in danger of getting into trouble on my own… When not watching TV, I always made productive use of time either drawing, coloring, painting, reading or writing. Music always played. I grew inspired by popular artists ranging from the 1960s to the 1980s that I’d been introduced to via relatives or radio (not to mention an incredible new channel called Mtv), and in 1984 I caved in to peer pressure and embraced rap music – much to my family’s dismay. While continuing to hone my visual art skills (charcoal pencils becoming my preferred medium), I wrote rhyme after rhyme… verse after verse… song after song. Recording them all soon followed, and eventually I sent demo tapes to record labels and appeared on local radio stations to promote new songs. I scored no record deals, but I took that as a blessing. Avoiding potential discouragement, I didn’t reveal my true career goals to adults who asked what I “wanted to be” when I grew up, claiming instead that I planned to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps as a police officer; to them a much more practical and commendable pursuit.
Although I briefly explored graphic arts courses at local colleges, furthering education beyond high school was never my intention. I considered it a waste of time and money, and still do. I’m proud to be a self-taught artist in each creative medium I’ve been fortunate enough to express myself, and there’s no greater education than experience. Nor is there any guarantee a degree will get you that job.
I relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1996, and got married in September of 2000. I was screenwriting by then, and at my model-actress wife’s suggestion, began adapting my own scripts into low-budget movies in late 2001. Together we created “On Mark Productions,” and have traveled to horror film conventions up and down the US east coast ever since to promote our work, meet fans old and new, and sign autographs alongside the stars of movies I’d grown up watching so lovingly; finally a part of their world…
At the same time, I was drawing commissioned portraits. Though always a perfectionist, initially I didn’t bother “finishing” an image with a background because I’d already exhausted myself – and, quite often, my interest in the piece – with an overly detailed main subject. With age comes patience, though, and I gradually began to focus just as much – if not more so – on what was behind that main subject as I did on it. The trick, still, was finding just the right balance of light and dark to make this rather limiting black and white medium as eye-catching and vibrant as possible.
In late 2015, my creative focus shifted to digital painting. Within a year I traded in my charcoal pencils for a stylus, partnered with Fine Art America and started a website to display my personal and commissioned artwork collections, several of which are available to order as prints, stationery, puzzles, etc. My main inspirations are Miami Vice (the classic 80s TV show, not the abysmal 2006 movie), horror films, the female form, and the human condition. Much of the material I create is of an adult nature, so proceed with caution.
I’ve photographed several female models, including Teresa (my wife), all featured at my website. However, I consider photography only a means to create art. Anyone can snap a picture. The camera itself creates the raw image, while an artist spends hours recreating that image by hand until finally satisfied with every line, color and shadow.
I am that artist. I live to create, and I create to live. In an age of apps that turn photos into art with just a tap of the screen, I proudly remain two things: a traditional old-schooler, forever drawing & coloring away with a utensil between cramped fingers; and independent, working at my own pace, surviving on commissions and print sales (not to mention my past movies and music), which is worth far more to me than living with the stress of deadlines under a corporate employer for greater pay. I exist happily and comfortably within my means, especially content in the knowledge that my work will live on long after I’m gone.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

2003 was tough. Artistically, I put nothing to paper all year except screenplays, two of which I attempted to adapt to digital video as feature films. Only one reached completion. The first, entitled The Zombie Room (inspired by a song lyric from Depeche Mode, my favorite band since 1993), ended up the one scrapped. In casting it, my wife & I had foolishly chosen friends and co-workers rather than experienced actors. I actually foresaw no problem completing the film with this group, based on their initial level of excitement and anticipation just to be in a movie – even one with a low budget. Trying to get them motivated early on Saturday morning, though, following a late night of drinking & partying, was a nightmare. Making things worse was the 90-minute drive to the main location. There was no way possible to get a reasonable amount of shots recorded each weekend (my cast’s only available time) without production lasting six months.
After just one, it was clear that there would be no finished movie. We shot for two weekends in a row, then got rained out for the next two. Considering how strongly tempers had flared the last day of production, I no longer had it in me to even discuss any further attempt to push on with the cast. In fact, none of us ever mentioned the project again.
Far from ready to give up on movie-making, though, I jumped right into the next one, called Expendable. Bitter after the last experience, I made sure to keep the casting minimal; myself, Teresa, a budding actress from Ohio, and 80s “scream queen” Brinke Stevens.
Still, it was not a fun shoot. The tension between my character’s and Teresa’s hit too close to home, making each consecutive take increasingly uncomfortable for both us. The fact, too, that I was trying desperately to appeal to the distributor who’d acquired our first movie but passed on the second (Expendable would be our third film), meant that I was willing to risk exploiting Teresa beyond her comfort level in order to capture as much gratuitous nudity and eroticism as possible. Only one scene in the original cut of the film met with her disapproval, but the distributor wasn’t interested in the film, and I learned a valuable lesson.
Then came the Christian uproar, here in the Bible Belt, after we’d released the film ourselves and were interviewed for the local newspaper… If it wasn’t already, “Resilient” became my middle name then, and I’ve since managed to not only remain a Charlotte resident, but to withstand the unending condemnation from those who refuse to differentiate nudity from pornography.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In October of 2005, Teresa & I hosted a local premiere of our latest film, HEAVEN HELP ME, I’M IN LOVE. We’d been married for five years at that point, focused on nothing but my own creative pursuits. One project after another, either music or movies, while merely going through the motions where our relationship was concerned. We’d never even discussed having children. The premiere turned out to be a great success; standing ovation, DVD sales, a wonderful evening spent with friends old & new.
We needed it. Earlier that year, Teresa underwent a second catheter ablation procedure for WPW syndrome at the weakest point in our marriage. I’m ashamed to admit that it took such a life-threatening event to bring me to my senses and majorly reset my priorities. Mercifully, she fully recovered. I became a new, vastly improved husband.
Our first child was born in December of 2006, our second in September of 2010. I made two movies in 2009, and then one more in 2011. My last album had a limited release in 2010. Film and music production may not yet be completely purged from my system, but I’ve said all I needed to via these two mediums. I believe everything happens if and when it’s meant to, and apparently all I’m meant to do for now is digital painting, occasional social media videos, and being the best husband and father I possibly can.
Sounds great to me!

Contact Info:

• Website: createtolive.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/onmarkprods
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onmarkproductions
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@OnMarkProductions
• Other: PLEASE NOTE: marquisbrothel.com is my latest website (through Fine Art America), featuring my charcoal pencil drawings & current digital art. createtolive.com is provided above since it features all my other work and includes a link to marquisbrothel.com.