FUNCTIONAL GLASS | Art glass bongs are the latest thing.

You may not have heard, but one art gallery in Vancouver is rehabilitating the image of functional glass art, one bong at a time.

The Melting Point Gallery has just launched its Regenerate Art Show – a month long exhibition of “functional glass art”.

Art glass bongs, in other words. They’re a thing.

But don’t call them that. According to the show’s press release,

Functional glass art has a dual purpose with form over function; it stands on its own as an artist’s creative expression of intricate three dimensional shapes, logos, patterns, architecture and colour, redefining the concept of sculpture; as well as serving the possible function of medicinal herb inhalation accessory, referred to as bubbler, bong, or pipe.

Form supersedes function in a synthesis of functional glass art.

So yeah, we’re talking bongs, but we’re trying to class it up a bit.

The Melting Point’s Owner/Curator, Marcus Richardson, is insistent that at this exhibit, what may look like a simple collection of drug paraphernalia, is actually a legitimate art form, albeit a misunderstood one.

This isn’t the first show like this. Also from the press release,

This is the second show of it’s kind at The Melting Point Gallery. The Degenerate Art Show (summer 2004) was inspired by “Operation Pipe Dreams”. This operation, run by the DEA, resulted in the arrest and conviction of several functional glass artists, and vendors.

As a result, rather then stopping these artists, the Functional glass art scene was pushed deeper underground. However, at The Melting Point … we have done the opposite, fostering this community of functional glass artists.

The idea that an artist could be arrested for simply making a blown-glass object feels aggressive and uniquely American, but the truth is that this community is still a beleaguered one, even in our seemingly weed-progressive city.

Richardson hopes shows like this one will provide, “a legal and legitimate forum” for functional glass artists to display their work.

And that it will give those artists “the opportunity to capture the positive essence these pieces are meant to inspire”.

He also hopes the exhibit will educate the public and reveal the true face “of this masterfully complex and intricate art form.”

Richardson says the bongs and pipes on display at the gallery are difficult to acquire, one of a kind collectibles, priced in the thousands.

So form really must come first. If it was about function, those bongs would be a lot cheaper.

The Regenerate Art Show runs from July 1 to July 31, 2005 at The Melting Point Gallery, 1111 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. 2018: This gallery has since closed.

A version of this piece published in Dose magazine on July 6, 2005. See clipping below. More Vancouver-specific posts and pieces are here.

Published in Dose, July 6, 2005