Mark Prent RCA (born Poland, 1947, died USA, 2020) was a Canadian sculptor and performance artist that lived in the United States and was best known for the graphic realism of his figurative sculpture.
[4] Mark Prent works consist of life-moulded mixed media, polyester resin and fiberglass casts of human models in sometimes disturbing poses and juxtapositions.
[5] 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.
[10] 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.
Responding to a complaint lodged by a public morality organization, the Toronto police attempted to close the exhibition which included a delicatessen, dinner table, and butcher room featuring human body parts as foodstuffs.
This confrontation was repeated in 1974 when Mark Prent's second solo exhibition at the Isaacs Gallery featured controversial room environments including an interactive prison electrocution scene, a voyeuristic glimpse into a handicapped toilet, and an enigmatic operation in progress on a figure with the head of pig and the body of a woman.
He had a joint exhibition with Canadian horror film icon David Cronenberg, titled Crimes Against Nature, at Toronto’s The Power Plant in 1987.
[6] Film director Guillermo del Toro bought one of Prent’s sculptures, The End Steals In, after coming across his work online.