Magic Mushroom

Unknown stones. 2010. 10 1/2″ high.

Magic Mushroom is magical in many ways.

The stem is among the most intensely coloured reddish-brown stones I’ve ever seen.  It is hard, resistant to abrasion, opaque, and supports an unusually high polish.   It appears transparent, as if allowing us to see far into its inner substance, but is opaque and reflective.  It mirrors detailed, coherent, geometrically warped reflections of its environment from every perspective.   The cap balances delicately on a sculpted brass pin and wobbles or rotates gently at the slightest touch.  The stone itself is a uniform field of small beige fragments embedded in a dense, dark green matrix.  Cap and stem complement each other powerfully in colour.

Magic Mushroom is a captivatingly suggestive sculpture.

Photos by Lee Gass