Interviews from Yale University Radio WYBCX
Harry Moritz
In my work, I use manufacturing to reflect on human-machine dynamics, sexuality and gender queerness. I think about how the workforces’ relationship to their machinery lacks heartfelt conscious reflection. Personality and machinery are often separate. I challenge this, making work that shows how humanity, personal identity and machinery can be a reflection of one another. Human sexuality and machine movements are similar in their dynamics and relationships. In my latest body of work, I use my lathe to produce phallic objects that explore gender queer motifs relating to the machinery I work with and my own sexual expression. My work sifts through old places in our culture.Factories that have seen many years and parts made.
After attending Pratt Institute for sculpture, I received my Machinist Certificate from Housatonic College in Bridgeport CT. My interest in machine work is the catalyst for how I understand the world. Time was always an interest that I would express in mechanical terms. Eventually I began making clocks out of aluminum discs. Then I was in the group exhibition, Horology at Jack Hanley Gallery in 2019. My studio is in Brooklyn, NY, where I have a machine shop to produce my work. Crossdressing is something I have been getting into lately. Exploring femininity has been very expansive for my work. I am more in touch with who I am, which is inspiring me to make work that I’ve never made before.
Note - here is the link to the online show mentioned in the interview.
Also, here is a link to the book mentioned in the interview.
Aqueous (May 2020)
Bottle Butt Plugs (April 2020)