Mark Mennin, whose “Interior Portraits” can be seen in the LongHouse Sculpture Court, will discuss his career with Hilary Lewis, a writer and curator who specializes in both art and architecture, at East Hampton’s LongHouse Reserve on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Installed at LongHouse in 2024, Mennin’s “Interior Portraits” feature six large-scale stone sculptures, five of which are concave portrait heads, carved out of onyx or marble, ranging in height from 57 to 69 inches. While the heads are static, the artist discovered that at a distance there is a binocular depth inversion, an illusion that turns a hollow or concave face into a positive one.
Doing all of his own carving, Mennin has also created massive bedlike sculptures that invite bodily contact, large stone discs, massive granite cores, even a 14-foot granite spearlike structure that acts as a sundial.
He first transitioned from ceramics to stone in 1984 in Italy, where he lived for three years. In addition to teaching ceramics under Toshiko Takaezu at Princeton, he has taught sculpture and art history for over 20 years, first at Parsons School of Design and subsequently at the New York Academy of Art. He now lives and works in Bethlehem, Conn.
“Mark Mennin: Observance. Three Decades of Carving in the Landscape,” published in February by Skira, has been edited by Lewis and Dani Shapiro. It will be available for purchase.
Tickets are $35, $25 for members.
