[1][2][failed verification] Jansen was born and raised in New York City.

He attended the Kunstgewerbe Schule Berufskolleg für Technik und Medien am Platz der Republik in Mönchengladbach, Germany in 1985, where he spent his adolescence.

After his military service and Gulf War deployment,[citation needed] Jansen later became an artist.

[citation needed] He is represented by Almine Rech in Paris, London, Shanghai, Brussels and New York as well as by Richard Beavers Gallery in Brooklyn and Soho in Manhattan.

[3] A documentary film by John Scoular, Marcus Jansen Examine and Report, had its world premiere at the Fort Myers Film Festival,[4] and was awarded Best Art TV Pilot Documentary by the East Hampton TV Festival.