Harold Wortsman
Harold Wortsman is a sculptor and printmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. He “creates forms that bring to mind archaic
cult objects and exude a quiet concentrated strength.” (Argauer Zeitung, Switzerland). His work, an edgy mix of freedom and clarity, can be found in public and private collections in the US and Europe as well as such American institutions as The Library of Congress, Yale University, The New York Public Library Print Collection, The New York Historical Society, Smith College, Indiana University’s Lilly Library, Brandeis University, The Newark Public Library Special Collections Division, and the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum Print Archive.

"Fired clay sculpture and printmaking comprise equal parts of my work, grounded in traditions that leap across time, from prehistoric cave paintings and ancient votive objects to the post-modern moment. The techniques I use are similar. Both entail two levels of improvisation. The metal plates, gouged and hacked out, exist purely in space. Later the plates, inked and pressed with color become prints. The clay takes on form, marked and hacked like the metal. Oxides or engobes and the extreme heat of high fire gas reduction gives color to the finished sculpture. 

Sources of inspiration vary. Fragments of glass on the street become a collage. A writer’s poems become the skeleton of an artists’ book. A performance piece becomes a cracked clay column. And the Lacondon pots of Chiapas, Mexico become a print."

Resume
Click here to download my CV.

Downloadable PDFs of my work
Click here to download PDF of my sculpture.
Click here to download PDF of my prints.