Psychedelic Pyrography

The art of decorating wood and other materials by burning with a heated implement is an ancient one. As a folk art, it was known as pokerwork. The development of specialized tools in the late 19th century greatly popularized the craft, which came to be known as pyrography, or pyrogravure. In this century, the advent of computer-controlled laser cutters has led to a renewed interest in wood-burning.

Here we have an example of outsider pyrography, with elements of 1960s psychedelia, prison art, outlaw biker art, and even Tibetan Buddhism. The work is executed on a rough slab of live-edge fir. Its central motif is a grinning human skull with one glaring eyeball (the other socket is left blank). Arm bones are folded across the foreground. Featherlike forms, lightning bolts, stars, and other geometric motifs radiate outward from the skull, in a manner suggesting great intensity of feeling, or maybe just intense tripping. A skull with radiating lightning bolts is commonly used as a warning sign for high voltage. It was also the logo of the seminal psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead!

25” x 13”