Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, has complex and profound effects on the brain, turning our everyday optical inputs into a magical and thrilling experience. As psilocybin floods the mind, it enhances neural connectivity, leading to heightened senses of perception. It also blurs the borders between our internal and external worlds, making everything feel full of life.
In this altered state of consciousness, ordinary objects may take on a new vibrancy, colors pulsate with otherworldly intensity, and geometric patterns dance and morph in mesmerizing ways. It’s as if the fabric of reality itself has been imbued with a newfound vitality — all of which has long served as an inspiration to artists around the world, in painting, music, film, and beyond.
Next time you find yourself lost in the labyrinthine corridors of a psychedelic trip, start by gazing upon the visuals that surround you. In the clouds above your head (or maybe it’s just a stucco ceiling), you might just catch a glimpse of wonders beyond your ordinary mode of perception. If, however, you want to gaze at other beautiful things to look at, we’ve compiled this list of psychedelic art that has been inspired by (and is particularly great to look at while on) mushrooms.
READ: 12 Best Movies to Watch on Acid
Luis Tamani
Descended from the Indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, Luis Tamani is a painter who grew up on the banks of the Ucayali River. He creates visionary art imbued with magical realism, colorfully depicting ancestral faces and powerful deity-like figures intricately laced with plant and animal imagery. Tamani’s art is sure to unlock rich and profound spiritual encounters, and is the kind of work that reveals more layers and symbology the longer you look at it.
/r/replications
In a different vein, we recommend the (mostly computer generated) art of users on the subreddit /r/replications, whose driving purpose is to feature art carefully crafted to “replicate” particular sensory aspects of the psychedelic experience. This might be somewhere to turn for mushroom psychedelic imagery when you’re not actually tripping, but want to remember what it’s like. You might recognize the “shroom visuals” of shapes and patterns appearing in vines climbing a wall, the ultra-high definition colors of a “warm summer day on shrooms” or the wobbly surrealism of this “high dose mushroom replication video.”
READ: Top 12 Psychedelic Artists on Instagram Right Now
Seana Gavin
Of course, mushrooms and other fungi are often trippy enough to look at in and of themselves. An artist who sees and expands upon this psychedelic biology is Seana Gavin, a London-based visual creator whose collages create otherworldly, dreamlike environments inspired by science fiction and the twisted, orgiastic paintings of Heironymus Bosch. In her “Mushrooms” series (pieces of which have been exhibited from Sweden to Portugal), morels are transformed into a “Mushroom City,” fairy caps shelter a “Fairyville,” and a variety of fungal friends assemble to form a futuristic “Galactic Mushroom Highway.”
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John Tenniel (Alice In Wonderland illustrations)
As far as we know, Lewis Carroll (author of the original Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland) didn’t actually take any psychedelics, but that hasn’t prevented his work of fiction from becoming a touchstone of psychedelic art, thanks in part to the visual work of John Tenniel. The 42 wood-engraved illustrations he created for the book established our collective sense of what Alice, the Cheshire Cat, the caterpillar on the mushroom, and all the book’s other zany characters look like. These timeless visuals evoke elements of the mushroom experience in even the soberest of minds.
Amanda Sage
For paintings rife with the beauty of curved lines, swirls, verve, and the softer side of nature, we recommend the work of Amanda Sage, who has been painting for three decades. Her bio states that her work is intended to “contribute to the development of regenerative culture by using painting as a tool for transformation within the individual and collective.” With that noble aim in mind, we see the great intention behind works like the strikingly creative Earth Guardian, or the Great Wave of Trainsformation. (No, that’s not a typo; shoutout to trains.)
“The Music Scene” by Blockhead (animated by Anthony F. Schepperd)
Released in 2010, Anthony F. Schepperd’s music video for “The Music Scene” by Blockhead is one of the most beautiful and downright trippy animations that the vast world of the internet has to offer. There is something very shroom-adelic about its approach to color, line work, and visuals that oscillate between the naturalistic and abstract. As one YouTube commenter put it, “This is that dimension you visit when you rub your eyes too hard.” It turns out that dimension is pretty gorgeous, and perhaps even therapeutic.
Lauren YS
An iconic baddie on both Instagram and street walls worldwide, the Los Angeles–based nonbinary artist Lauren YS has a highly distinct style inspired by mythology, psychedelia, love, sex, and their Asian-American heritage. You certainly don’t have to be on shrooms to get lost in the twists and turns of the fungi-infused neon cities of the future that seem to pour out of the artist’s brain with ease. These otherworldly creatures and characters—many of them queer and trans—invite viewers to join them on a scary-sexy world of psychedelic liberation.
Android Jones
A titan of the visionary art scene and transformational festival circuit, the Colorado-based Android Jones has created a signature style which conjures imaginative stories like Love Never Burns (based on a phoenix) and Mother of Life. Rich with colorful layers, symbology, and geometry, Jones’ work invites us to get lost in the mysteries of life.
The Mycological Twist by Anne de Boer and Eloïse Bonneviot
A project that ran from 2014 to 2016 in multiple art spaces of London, the Mycological Twist (a term originally coined by the revolutionary mycologist Paul Stamets) is a project by Anne de Boer and Eloise Bonneviot that conjures a speculative world called “Fungitopia.” Using highly original visual and sculptural elements, their show imagined “a reality in which we shift from a fungiphobe to a fungiphile society,” one in which humans recognize the power of mushrooms to revitalize our societies and ecosystems. We wish we could see the project in flesh world, but even the images online will nourish a mind hungry for mushroom psychedelic art.
The Mushroom Dance from Fantasia
On a more wholesome note, this one-minute scene from the 1940 Disney film Fantasia is a delightful dance of sparkly mushrooms of varying sizes (and ages) set to music from the Nutcracker Suite. These characters have a story to tell, and they’re going to do it with the sort of pizzazz and fluidity characteristic of hand-drawn art from the era. The entire two-hour film was embraced by counterculturists when it was re-released in 1969 with a decidedly psychedelic new poster.
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DoubleBlind Magazine does not encourage or condone any illegal activities, including but not limited to the use of illegal substances. We do not provide mental health, clinical, or medical services. We are not a substitute for medical, psychological, or psychiatric diagnosis, treatment, or advice. If you are in a crisis or if you or any other person may be in danger or experiencing a mental health emergency, immediately call 911 or your local emergency resources. If you are considering suicide, please call 988 to connect with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
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