EXPLODING WORLD

A year ago my brother Hal asked me to find a gallery in New York that would show his work.

I, who could not sell Girl Scout cookies to save my life.

Hal lives in Kingston, a few hours north of New York City. He cuts trees, hence the wood. He's been taking woodcarving classes for years and had recently gotten a decent lathe, so he could work on it on his own instead of going to his instructor's shop. We had discussed whether he should get a huge lathe, so he could make huge (and he said, more marketable) BIG things. I, not being there, didn't even really know what he was making until he brought a box of things down for me to try to sell ((eek, eek, eek--BAD MISTAKE--I CAN'T SELL ANYTHING)) but I read the lifestyle mags, I do know big wooden things are in these days--big ole slabs sell for $12,000, etc..

I think this one is burled maple. Hal says a burl is a diseased part of the wood with wood forming in protective layers over the ill part (I'm paraphrasing, I'm sure I could google a better definition). Anyway, in his work, he runs across a lot of burls, and he saves them because they are beautiful. This one is, isn't it? It's like a rorschach butterfly end- of-the-world kind of scenario--everything streaming away into the universe.