Mark Anthony Gucciardi was born in 1970 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. At the age of five his family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. His love for drawing created difficulties for him in school but he finished high school and went on to attend a community college to study commercial art. It was when Mark became a picture framer at age 18 that he was introduced to the works of North Carolina artist, Ben Long, and Minnesota artist, Charles Kapsner. These artists were his first real introduction to a level of drawing and painting that would inspire him to pursue a career as an artist. The continued exposure and inspiration drawn from Ben Long and Charles Kapsner’s work, and the help of his mother and stepfather, brought Mark to Florence in 1997. When Mark first walked through the doors of The Florence Academy of Art in January of 1998 he knew he found the right environment for his training. The last two of his five years at the academy Mark was an assistant instructor in the drawing program, and he also taught Figure Painting workshops during summer session. In 2002 Mark moved to Calabria, Italy, and returned to Florence in 2005 where he continues to paint. Mark's work includes still lifes, nudes, portraits, landscapes and copies of old Master paintings. His work is in private collections in Europe and in the U.S.