Francisco Tavoni

ATM Gallery is pleased to present Sentient Beings, from Venezuelan artist Francisco Tavoni. Francisco Tavoni spent a large part of his young adult life in Byron Bay, a coastal town in the Southeastern Australian state of New South Wales, Australia.

The collection of works as a whole is an exploration of human connection and the innate connection between humans and fungi. Three works in this exhibition are representations of wild fungi collected by the artist from Byron Bay’s hinterland, while the other three works portray silhouettes of friends that Tavoni has shared experiences of transcendental connection with.

In his early 20’s, amidst his first psilocybin experience, Tavoni found himself roaming in the backcountry cow fields of Byron Bay, where picking and collecting varieties of fresh mushrooms, medicinal and psychoactive, is commonplace.

The specific technique Tavoni uses to capture his subjects happened by accident. This circumstantial nature of his technique mirrors the circumstantial nature of procuring wild mushrooms.

Tavoni employs an unorthodox approach to his photographic method. The fluctuation of vibrant color hues are a product of his filtering light processes, gauzy fabrics and focus blurs which produce a mesmeric aura.

Tavoni’s time in Byron Bay has also provided him with vital knowledge about the benefits of certain mushrooms; Lion's Mane, Reshi and Chaga, in a medicinal context that is customary in Chinese medicine. As mushroom usage began to hit the mainstream, Tavoni slowly took note of different friends around the world utilizing the healing properties of mushrooms.

Face to face with these large scale works, viewers can note the juxtaposition between subjects (the people and the mushrooms) that resemble the undeniable connection humans have with mushrooms, as well as the crucial role that mushrooms play in nature.

Francisco Tavoni (b. 1986, in Caracas, Venezuela) Currently lives and works in Byron Bay, Australia and Berlin, Germany. Past solo and group shows Lindberg Galleries, Melbourne; Nassima Landau, Tel Aviv; Adhesivo contemporary; Mexico City.