whimsically arranged mushrooms become fungi luminograms

whimsically arranged mushrooms become fungi luminograms
‘space tourism’
all images courtesy of david robinson

london based artist david robinson has combined an innate passion for food with his photographic practice for his ongoing series of photographic work ‘fungi luminograms’. as the owner of mushroom-based street food business, sporeboys, robinson’s daily exposure to the edibles has led him to explore them as an artistic medium, taking photos of them in whimsical arrangements using the camera-less luminogram technique. the mushrooms are hand-cut into various shapes and patterns and are built into small vignettes as in ‘space tourism’, where fungi caps transform into space ship-like silhouettes, and in ‘new year’ where long-stemmed varieties become the fireworks in a new years eve scene. the specific palette of fungi material — rich in texture, form, and color — creates a playful and quirky visual response.

‘new year’

once in the darkroom with the mushroom compositions, an image is created by exposure of photosensitive materials to light without the intervention of a camera. the process rapidly causes the destruction of the original, delicate design so each remaning print is the lasting impression of a momentary artwork. robinson’s work is featured in his book, the mushroom picker, which tells the tale of charismatic mushroom characters through his photographs.  

‘housing estate’

‘explosion’

‘forest’

‘solar system’

‘flock’

‘super moon’

‘crash’

‘trench-cousteau’