Mark George Prent

Prent, Mark George

Mark George Prent, sculptor (b at Lodz, Poland 23 Dec 1947, Canadian citizen 1948). Prent works with plastics such as polyster resin, fibreglass and found objects and occasionally bronze. His works are extremely realistic and frequently feature motion or sound. His subjects are mostly human figures treated in an exaggerated manner (eg, a male nude figure, mouth open as if screaming, encased in a block of ice set upright in a freezer) and are seldom attractive in the superficial sense. Sometimes there is a certain ironic humour in his work. He has often worked on a large scale, creating 3-dimensional, extremely detailed, room-sized environments. Prent's subject matter is considered disturbing by many and a great deal of controversy surrounds it. In exhibitions of his work in 1970 and 1972, the Isaacs Gallery in Toronto was charged "with displaying disgusting objects," contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada. Both charges were dismissed. Prent is the recipient of a number of awards including the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Fellowship (1985) and now lives in Vermont.