My girlfriend and I have been fans of sculptor Mark Prent for years. A friend of ours once worked as an apprentice to him and, knowing that we would enjoy his style, had loaned us some videos to watch. We clicked the “Play” button and our jaws dropped. His work is incredibly realistic, darkly imaginitive and profoundly disturbing – and we couldn’t believe that we knew someone who worked for this guy!

After years of admiring him in private (though not SO private – I’ve been linking my blog to his website since Day One), my sculptor girlfriend managed to develop an online rapport with him, and secured us an invitation to his house to meet him and see some of his work.

His house, an enormous pink Victorian surrounded by overgrowth, seemed to be an appropriate extension of Mark: Seemingly-unassuming on the outside, containing brilliant treasures that hover precariously near the precipice of insane genius. Who would believe this small, friendly man (with a voice to match) could harbor such a macabre wonderland in the dark recesses of his creative mind?

I wish I could have taken more photos; not that he would mind my doing so, but I felt like it would have been rude to walk through and snap photo after photo like a tourist walking through his private house. Next time!

We spent a couple hours chatting with Mark about the work that he does. We met his wife, were given a tour of the property, and he even illustrated to us much of his process, in the second story work area of the carriage house he uses as a studio.

We chatted about some of his past projects, some of his current projects, and then we spoke a little about future projects – projects that we might even take part in. It was great to finally meet this man and see his studio, it was even cooler to consider future relations with this most brilliant artist.

I just can’t believe Vermont could be home to an artist such as this. We’ve been here for years, operating on the periphery of the local art scene, what a surprise this visit was! Let’s face it, the Vermont art scene contains a lot of elements, but “world-class” and “controversial” are not generally two I thought we could ever apply here.

After being told time and again that mine and my girlfriend’s work are “unfit for this gallery” I feel we’re finally in good company!