THOMAS WOOD

Bugs in a Bowl

A posthumous exhibit of Thomas Wood etchings focusing on the wonderful absurdity of his humor.

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The first time I visited Tom Wood in his studio was about 9 years ago. We were meeting to decide if we should work together. Sometime during that meeting Tom tore a page out of a magazine and gave it to me. it was a poem that he thought would enlighten me to his world view.

Bugs in a Bowl
 

Han Shan, that great and crazy, wonder-filled Chinese poet of a thousand years ago, said:
We’re just like bugs in a bowl. All day going around never leaving their bowl.
I say, That’s right! Every day climbing up
the steep sides, sliding back.
Over and over again. Around and around.
Up and back down.
Sit in the bottom of the bowl, head in your hands,
cry, moan, feel sorry for yourself.
Or.

Look around. See your fellow bugs.
Walk around.
Say, Hey, how you doin’?
Say, Nice Bowl!

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-David Wolf Budbill

Fellow journeyers, we are certainly all in this together. In this exhibit we celebrate the wit, humanity, trenchant observations, satire and political commentary that can be found judiciously sprinkled throughout Wood's etchings.