Author: Aldo Cherres

Searching for Mushrooms is a series of paintings I made last year in 2017, although not new I’d like to talk about them more in depth.

These series are about our relentless search for something in our lifetimes, whether is something tangible or not. Although the painting is very objective, usually women reaching for mushrooms in rather uncomfortable positions, it is actually describing a deeper meaning. It could well be us looking for answers to questions we all have and many times cannot find, reach or accept.

This idea started while I was walking in my garden and noticed some wild mushrooms growing, bright white hard to miss and of incredibly beautiful shapes. They just appeared from one day to another, right in the middle of my garden, maybe one or two, in small bunches, like they don’t want to be next to the other plants. They made such an impression to me that I have been repeatedly using them in many of my other paintings. 

Somewhere along this series I started adding flying objects in the background, to be more precise planets, meteors, comets and the like. I also began to paint some kind of buildings usually in a very abstract way. This is because I want to think these events are taking place somewhere, sometime we don’t know.

As of now, I have painted four works of this series, but after almost a year of working on other themes, I’m starting to get newer ideas to continue this journey.