Jonathan Prince

“I have always had the desire to make things instead of just looking at them,” says sculptor Jonathan Prince, whose creative and professional experiences are as eclectic as they are interesting.

Prince earned a degree in dentistry from Columbia University and a post doctoral degree at the University of Southern California in the surgical specialty of maxillofacial prosthodontics. He established a successful private practice in New York City, and served as a member of the surgical staff at The New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center and on the teaching staff of Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery.

Feeling the need to be more creative, Prince began experimenting with film in the mid 80s. In 1993, he produced a movie based on Albert Camus' novel, "The Plague", which starred William Hurt, Raul Julia, and Robert Duvall and was directed by Academy Award winner Luis Puenzo. Jonathan developed many films and had production deals at several studios including Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures.

In 1994 the opportunity to combine his knowledge in medicine and media presented itself, and Prince became President and COO of Dimensional Media Associates, a company that was creating display technology for the advertising and scientific community. Jonathan served as principal investigator and project manager on several Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) contracts and helped move the company’s technology forward by patenting several new concepts. Prince began to spend more time on the production side of the company where he supervised and served as creative director for a wide variety public art projects for clients as diverse as Six Flags Theme Parks, Pepsico, and The Smithsonian Museum.

In 1997 Jonathan created his own computer animation company (Surface Studios), serving both the advertising and film and television industries. With his knowledge of the movie industry, he was able to attract several important projects, and served as a special effects supervisor to Academy Award winner Sidney Lumet on his 1997 film "Critical Care." The company won an Emmy Award in their first year of operation for virtual set design on the CBS / Time Warner series "People Of The Century."

A year later, Prince founded Sorceron (1998), a software company that created Internet media and viewing technology. Jonathan served as Chairman and CEO of the venture-backed company which employed some 100 animators and software developers. In 2002, largely as a result of the “dot-com bust,” the company closed its doors.

"This period of my life was the real turning point for me,” he now recalls. “The frustration of seeing a venture fail, especially one where tens of millions of dollars were lost, prompted me to rethink my entire existence. It took a year, but I realized what I wanted was to return to a love that I have had for my entire life. I wanted to create sculpture.”

In 2004, Prince began his sculpting career with a passion, vision and purpose that could only result from a life-altering event. Over the past several years he has produced works in granite, marble, and limestone that demonstrate the development of a style that is deeply rooted in the earth and the artist’s long-enduring love of stone.

“From my earliest years, I was fascinated with sculpture. I created my first stone sculptures in high school, using abandoned marble grave markers. In college and through the years I created several maquettes and even worked at a bronze foundry in New York City. But... it took me 30 years to return to my first passion.”

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