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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) With its pointy, jagged-edge leaves, it could simply be a robust houseplant. But in this hip downtown gallery, placed under a display case, its art.
Its also illegal.
Michele Preds Marijuana Project is part of a new show at the Frey Norris Gallery called Whos Afraid of San Francisco?
The 2-foot-high cannabis plant stands in a plain, plastic pot on a square, white podium. Its covered by a clear, Plexiglas box with air holes. On the wall nearby is the artists medical marijuana card and growers permit, which she obtained for this project.
California is one of 11 states that allow medical marijuana, though it remains illegal under federal law.
Also displayed are buds encased in resin and mounted in petri dishes, which Pred calls Marijuana Culture. She recently stopped by the gallery to sign a set of three dishes that sold for $1,200.
This symbolic five-leaf imagery that you see on T-shirts or caps you associate that with a certain kind of person or lifestyle, says the 41-year-old Berkeley artist. I wanted to demystify it. Its a plant. Its a weed.
The show was the idea of gallery owners Raman Frey and Wendi Norris.
We were talking about current events, social issues in San Francisco that take on a much larger national context, Frey says, rattling off a list of San Francisco-centric issues such as gay marriage and anti-war activism. They begin here as social experiments then diffuse out to the rest of the country. At first, when they arise, they freak everybody out.
Lawrence Rinder, dean of the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, called the show intriguing. He said Pred was clearly trying to make a point with Marijuana Project.
I smelled it and that was interesting, he said. Most people would look at this and ask, Why is this art? ... Art in our society is extremely broadly defined.
Its also illegal.
Michele Preds Marijuana Project is part of a new show at the Frey Norris Gallery called Whos Afraid of San Francisco?
The 2-foot-high cannabis plant stands in a plain, plastic pot on a square, white podium. Its covered by a clear, Plexiglas box with air holes. On the wall nearby is the artists medical marijuana card and growers permit, which she obtained for this project.
California is one of 11 states that allow medical marijuana, though it remains illegal under federal law.
Also displayed are buds encased in resin and mounted in petri dishes, which Pred calls Marijuana Culture. She recently stopped by the gallery to sign a set of three dishes that sold for $1,200.
This symbolic five-leaf imagery that you see on T-shirts or caps you associate that with a certain kind of person or lifestyle, says the 41-year-old Berkeley artist. I wanted to demystify it. Its a plant. Its a weed.
The show was the idea of gallery owners Raman Frey and Wendi Norris.
We were talking about current events, social issues in San Francisco that take on a much larger national context, Frey says, rattling off a list of San Francisco-centric issues such as gay marriage and anti-war activism. They begin here as social experiments then diffuse out to the rest of the country. At first, when they arise, they freak everybody out.
Lawrence Rinder, dean of the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, called the show intriguing. He said Pred was clearly trying to make a point with Marijuana Project.
I smelled it and that was interesting, he said. Most people would look at this and ask, Why is this art? ... Art in our society is extremely broadly defined.
