He was born in Pedreiras in the State of Maranhão in 1962. When he was seven years old, his family moved to the capital São Luís.

Between the 1970s and 1980s, he founded the Mirarte group with other artists, focused on researching new artistic materials, theory and art history. In 1981, Celeida Tostes, renowned sculptor and teacher at EAV, gave a course in ceramics and tiles in São Luís for the Prodart project, which Marçal was a monitor. She saw great potential in him and started to guide him in his work.

In 1982, at Celeida's suggestion, the Mirarte group invited Rubens Gerchman to teach painting. The course was essential for the young artists of São Luís, especially for Marçal, who, encouraged by Gerchman himself, moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he arrived in 1985. Later this year, he meets dealer Jean Boghici who will represent him for the next 20 years.

With the impact caused by the big city, his painting undergoes significant changes, in his chromatic research and represented themes. From 1990, he began to explore sculpture, especially with the use of wood. By improving his technique, he subverts the rigid nature of this material, which takes on fluid forms in his works.