by Cyrus Grant
Marijuana and creativity have a bond going back to…well, the discovery of weed, really. While we know cannabis can be the driving force behind art, it also makes for a great subject piece to appear in art.
Cannabis art used to be reserved solely for dorm rooms and bachelor pads, but it, along with many of the hallmarks of the stoner aesthetic, has gotten a serious upgrade. The artists and pieces below show that this stereotype is ready to be a thing of the past — and all deserve a spot in even the most discerning cannabis connoisseur’s home.
Beauty in the Bud
Marijuana bud is always a beautiful sight, and cannabis painter, Anita Toke, brings that beauty to another level with her acrylic paintings. Toke uses cannabis as the subject for her art as a way to celebrate marijuana and paint cannabis in a more positive light.
A Pair of Prints
Why stop at one when you can go with two? While that might be your preferred strategy when it comes to smoking a bowl, joint, or vape, it can also apply to art prints. These vintage cannabis prints by Elizabeth Blackwell are an intelligent look at cannabis plants…that also happen to look great on your wall.
The story behind these is pretty fun too: Blackwell started writing a book featuring medicinal plants in the 1700s to help raise enough money to get her husband out of debtor’s prison…talk about conversation pieces!
What You See When You Close Your Eyes
Fred Tomaselli is well known for psychedelic paintings on wood panels that often feature cannabis imagery. This painting, titled Lil’ Phosphenea, is his take on phosphene (those lights and shapes you see when you rub your eyelids). Turns out we aren’t the only ones that see weed when we close our eyes!
California Cannabis Cultivation
We’re all familiar with the wonderful sight of having weed sitting in front of us, but not everyone gets to experience the beauty, tranquility, and sometimes precarious life of marijuana before it lands in our hands. That’s why Maureen R. Drennan decided to go and create a whole photo book titled “Meet Me in the Green Glen,” where she photographed a reclusive California marijuana grower over the span of nine years, as he took his operation from an on-the-down-low illegal production to a fully legitimate business. This collection of photos makes the perfect cannabis coffee-table art book. (If you’re curious about understanding the farm-to-pen process, we’d also highly recommend a trip to California’s Emerald Triangle. You can check out our guide here!)
Instant Film Inspiration
It turns out glass smoking paraphernalia can look just as good in photos as it does sitting on a table or shelf. Matthew Spiegelman’s project, titled Officioné, finds “inspiration in the paraphernalia and iconography of stoners, tokers, and hippies….”
The title of the project carries significance as well. It is an ode to his uncle and mother, who used the made-up word “Officioné” (pronounced office-ee-o-nee) as a code that signaled, “hey, let’s go smoke weed on the deck.” Shortened to just EE-O-NEE, Spiegleman said that the term became a representation of freedom in his family, and acted as a trigger word that brought relaxation to his mom and uncle before they even made it to the deck. His pictures are meant to be a visual representation of that mental freedom, and it could certainly be a good reminder on your wall to take a load off and go smoke some weed. And if codewords or images aren’t quite enough to give you that relaxation feeling, try out Mistifi’s Houdini indica blend vape pen.
Marijuana Monolith
A giant festival planet with a marijuana-dispensing monolith sounds like the ideal setup to us, which is why this drawing by Ettore Sottsass Jr. absolutely catches the eye. This piece was made to depict a utopian world free of work and social conditioning, where life is in harmony with nature, and a giant pillar dispenses drugs to the masses. While we all wait for that world to actually happen, smoking Mistifi’s Over the Rainbow sativa blend and having this on your wall is the next best option.
Everyone’s Favorite Flower
A lot of people enjoy pictures of flowers in their homes, so why not have some pictures of your favorite flower? Joachim Koester’s collection of prints shows off cannabis, giving an intimate look at the plant through a series of isolated pictures. Koester’s goal of the series was to show off cannabis’s “recent evolution into exotic hybridized varieties due to changes in the administration and politics surrounding them.”
Weed Wire Sculpture
Art takes on many different shapes and sizes, which is why we had to include some unique weed sculptures in our art selection. These sculptures, done by artist Lane Walkup, were created in collaboration with Brocolli magazine’s new book, “A Weed is a Flower,” and are made of painted steel wire. These are great due to their simplistic and subtle depiction of cannabis flower arrangements in vases, and are sure to add a fun energy to any space.
Whether it’s a painting, photograph, book, or sculpture, weed art can decorate and elevate the cannabis connoisseur’s home. Having pieces like this in your home is sure to not only inspire, but also show off a little. So, grab your Mistifi vape pen of choice, sit back, and take in the art.
Do any of these pieces speak to you? Do you have a favorite weed art piece that we missed? Let us know!