Mal Gagnon was born in Vanguard, Saskatchewan and received his formal art training at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary, Alberta majoring in Advertising Art.

In 1973 he came to British Columbia to work as a staff artist for a mining company in the West Kootenay region. It is here that he came to understand the importance of recording our history through visual art when he was commissioned by a financial institution to draw eight images for an ambitious project chronicling the mining history of the West Kootenay region of British Columbia.

In 1988 he moved to the Okanagan where he worked for a leading commercial printing company gaining an invalueable knowledge of the printing process. This led to the self-publishing of his artwork. His popular detailed painting style has led to many private and corporate commissions among which include mining companies, financial institutions, insurance companies, golf courses and wineries. His passion for art and the Okanagan are evident in his many paintings that depict the beautiful scenery and exciting places of the Okanagan Valley.