Mark Prent

Mark Prent (born Poland, 1947, died USA, 2020) was a Canadian sculptor and performance artist who lived in the United States and was best known for the graphic realism of his figurative sculpture. Prent's sculptures have been described as disturbing and even brutal. His work was the subject of a 1972 lawsuit in which a gallery, exhibiting one of his works consisting of a butcher’s counter of human body parts, was charged with "exhibiting a disgusting object". Prent was the subject of the 1976 documentary "If Brains Were Dynamite [You Wouldn't Have Enough to Blow Your Nose] - Mark Prent".

Style and technique Mark Prent works consist of life-moulded mixed media, polyester resin and fiberglass casts of human models in sometimes disturbing poses and juxtapositions. Mark Prent has consistently maintained throughout the years, that his sculptures and installations do not carry intentional messages. When he later became concerned about the toxicity of polyester resin, he began to experiment with other materials, developing innovative techniques for recreating that trademark quality of virulent realism. This venture into new materials led him in many new directions in his own work and ultimately, to become a technical resource for other artists as well.

Biography Born in Łódź, Poland in 1947, Prent moved with his family to Canada in infancy, and grew up in Montreal. He was educated at Sir George Williams University in Montreal, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 1983 he relocated with his wife to Vermont (U.S.A.). Since his public career began in 1970, Mark Prent has had over forty solo exhibitions, including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Academy of Arts in Berlin and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, as well as participating in an extensive list of group exhibitions. the Canada Council’s Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award (1977), the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Fellowship, and an Art Matters grant. He was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Prent had a 43-year career at Concordia University in Montreal as a Senior Technician in the Mould-Making workshop in the Department of Studio Arts. He was well-known for his technical mastery, and his devotion to helping students realize their artistic projects.

Career

Early controversial work In that same year as he graduated, Prent exhibited two uniquely disturbing entries in "Survey '70", an exhibit of Canadian avant garde artists organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In 1972 his work gained notoriety Film director Guillermo del Toro bought one of Prent’s sculptures, The End Steals In, after coming across his work online. The piece was included in The Shape of Water director's touring exhibition At Home With Monsters, which came to the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2017. In 2018, Gallery Gevik held his first solo show since the 1990s in Toronto. In fall 2019, Prent's art was featured alongside that of Switzerland's H.R. Giger in a joint exhibition at New York's Gagosian Gallery Park & 75, curated by artist and filmmaker Harmony Korine and at the Mitchell Algus Gallery in New York.

Death Mark Prent died of an aortic aneurysm at a Vermont hospital on September 2, 2020. He was 72.