Mark Kazavchinski, a.k.a. Mark Kazav, was born in Moldova in 1960. In 1980, he began his military duty with the Soviet Army which lasted two years. By the 1990s, Kazav and his family were forced to leave the USSR as a result of the war and disorder that plagued the area. They soon fled to Canada.

While living in Canada, Kazav had difficulties expressing himself without knowing English, which perhaps served as one of his inspirations for painting. The limitless possibilities of oil painting fascinated him. After only one year of painting, he participated in an exhibition in Toronto and quickly sold all of his pieces. He sold over 500 original paintings in his first year of actively painting and quickly began to gain recognition amongst other artists.

Kazav produces pieces with bountiful texture as part of a "wet-in-wet" technique that captures the essence of subject rather than the intricacies. His work can be found in numerous corporate and private collections throughout the US and Europe.