Corey Corcoran Has Fun With Fungi In His Beautiful Mushroom Etchings

An artist with a taste for exotic mediums, <a title="Corey Corcoran" href="http://coreycorcoran.com/" target="_blank">Corey Corcoran</a> delicately etches designs into fungi. Using the Artist Conk mushroom (<em><a title="Ganoderma applantatum" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganoderma_applanatum" target="_blank">Ganoderma applanatum</a>) </em>as his canvas, his pieces range from 6-24'' and are covered in images ranging from microbes to celestial bodies. Corcoran explores the interconnectedness between the micro and macro level with great detail, and like early pictograms, the carvings use an element of nature to express forms of life; human figures and body parts float alongside insects and plants, and images move into one another to remind the viewer that they are part of a broader ecosystem.

Boston-based illustrator forgoes the traditional paper or canvas for the underside of a giant mushroom.

His organic backdrops allow for a sculptural quality to his work, each pierced piece taking advantage of the structure of the fungus.

Appearing as a cross between folk art and classic book illustration, each composition seems to be telling a story where humans and the environment intersect.

By choosing a the Artist Conk, Corcoran not only highlights his own skill, but the often overlooked beauty of a fascinating organism.

Feet root the human body into the natural world.

The top of the Artist Conk mushroom.

Each of Corey Corcoran's piece is elaborately detailed, paying homage to the intricacies of the web of life.

Each piece varies with the dimensions and overall structure of the mushroom canvas.

Painstakingly etched, Corey Corcoran investigates the intersections between life and art.

Corcoran's work resembles early folk art with his limited use of colors and simple figures.

Human figures float alongside plants and insects in Corcoran's engravings.