“Get to the Bag” art exhibition brochure
“an uncultivated and almost savage, forcefulness will reign in thought, and often a very great variety and singular fruitfulness in its products.”
—Alexis De Toqueville, “Democracy in America”, vol. 2, pt. 1, ch. 13, the Literary Face of Democratic Centuries
The mylar is a mirror.
Congratulations—you got to the bag. Welcome to the “Get to the Bag” cannabis mylar exhibition and retrospective sponsored by Compound Genetics.
Cannabis is a $60 billion industry. Flower is its No. 1 modality. And the plastic “mylar” bag is its No. 1 packaging.
Thus, the mylar bag is the de facto blank canvas of cannabis culture. It’s a mirror into the psyche of the weed smoker.
This isn’t mere packaging—it’s a thriving art sub-culture. Stoners are unlikely aesthetes.
“Get to the bag” explores the thesis that there is fineness in commercial art. The show recontextualizes a low art product in a high art setting, and delights in the cheeky, provocative transgression.
—David Downs | Senior Editor at Leafly.com | Curator of “Get to the Bag”
List of Works
In January, cannabis journalist put out a call for mylar bags on social media and the world responded—creating an interactive community exhibition. “Get to the Bag” contains more than 1,100 pieces of donated cannabis art from collectors all over the country. Several hundred bags are hung on several walls. The rest are collected in 12 binders which grow by the day.
Here is the show’s Catalog Index, containing bag names, brands, estimated year or production, artist, and the donor/collector. You can help us populate missing info in our Index.
“Get to the Bag” features several walls: A Title wall hung in a spectrum of color; to its right, a Food-themed wall. Inside the main gallery is our All-Star wall, Die-Cut wall, the Terp Hogz + Deep East Farms wall, the Sticker Farmer wall, and the San Francisco Bay Area wall.
Back in the reception area is our Metallics Wall, as well as our Mega Wall; broken up into Sticker Bags, Lettering, Minimalist bags, Figurative Drawing, Photographic bags, Infringing bags, Juvenalia, and NSFW bags.
Event Schedule
Check out our Schedule page for special events in the Gallery.
Visitor Information
“Get to the Bag” is located on the 3rd floor of 540 Howard St. San Francisco—the Mirus Gallery.
Open 7 days a week 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Free to the public. Ages 21+.
Walls in Detail
All-Star Wall
Where the height of cannabis sales and cannabis graphic design intersect.
What makes an all-star bag?
An all-star bag contains cannabis that’s one of the top 20 strains in America. It’s instantly recognizable and represents often millions of dollars of intellectual property. An all-Star bag represents the leading edge of graphic design or a particular genre of bag, like die-cuts. An All-Star bag is iconic like Zoap, and elicits fond memories of using the flower or hearing about the release.
Here are the “Get to the Bag” All-Stars:
“Gary Payton”
San Francisco, 2020s
Tinted photograph on mylar.
Cookies
Gary Payton is a top 20 strain on Leafly. The all-star NBA player licensed his likeness for this unique Wheaties style expression.
“Zoap”
Oakland, 2020s
Mixed media hand-carved Zoap photography.
Deep East
Deep East Rob bred the Zoap strain under seige in East Oakland, then prototypes the bag logo using a bar of soap and a knife.
“Doja”
Los Angeles, 2020s
Calligraphic, graffiti lettering.
Doja Pak
Doja Pal Ryan has become a global cannnabis marketing juggernaut. His iconic Doja logo signified high-quality, exotic new herb the world over.
“White Runtz”
Los Angeles, 2020
Calligraphic, graffiti lettering.
Runtz
Runtz won Leafly Strain of the Year 2020. The Runtz crew took the brad global, spawning countless Runtz spin-offs.
“Zuper Gremlin”
San Francisco, 2020s
Augmented reality graphic design.
Champelli
San Francisco fashion maven Champelli released this augmented reality bag, which plays with childhood character from the 1980s—the Gremlin.
“Gelato 41”
Los Angeles, 2020s
Supreme-style lettering over pattern.
Backpack Boyz
Most known for the number one strain in America—Lemon Cherry Gelato—Backpack Boyz of LA built their brand on the Gelato cannabis lineage.
“That Badu” (autographed)
San Francisco, 2023
Patterned floral design.
Cookies
Singer Erykah Badu brought That Badu to fans in 2023, headlining Hippie Hill, and signing autographs after the show. This cross of Jet Fuel Gelato and Lemoncello hits all the right notes.
“Ridgeline LANTZ”
Mendocino/Humboldt County, 2023
Computer graphic design.
Ridgeline Farms
Ridgeline Farms stand among the most winning cultivators in all of California. Here they iterate on Runtz with their equally winning Ridgeline Lantz.
“Zushi Blue”
Los Angeles, 2020s
Anime-style sushi graphic design.
The Ten Co
The Ten Co of Los Angeles has dominated in the bag and on the bag with their ‘Z’ based cultivar lineup built around ’Zushi’. Anime, die-cut and metallic unite on this banger bag.
“Blue Dream”
Sacramento, CA
Fine lettering and color heightened by the use of metallics.
Seven Leaves
Blue Dream is among the top-five best-selling strains in America. Top-shelf indoor flower cultivators ‘Seven Leaves’ of Sacramento, CA kill it with their sizzling, vibrating Blue Dream bag—arguably the best-looking “Blue Dream” packaging in the US right now.
“Blue Lobster”
Maine, USA
Custom hand-lettered font over stark, woodcut-like black and white Maine trees.
Maine Trees of Maine has one of the hottest strains in America—”Blue Lobster” from Cipher Genetics’ Chris Lynch. Also known as Pave from Compound Genetics. “Blue Lobster” dominated the East Coast Zalympix cannabis contest in 2023. New hybrids of Blue Lobster will rock cannabis in 2024.
“Black C—No Bammer”
San Francisco, CA
Photography over San Francisco font and iconography.
Sunset Connect of San Francisco channels the spirit of The City with this RBL Posse collab bag, part of their “Legends” volume. Few rap bars symbolize the Bay as much as ‘don’t gimme no bammer weed, we don’t smoke that shit in the SFC.’
Sticker Farmer wall statement
Sticker Farmer was born from the hustle of Ben Pechetti and Lesley Van Dalsem. Coming from the Bay Area graffiti and music scene, Sticker Farmer was printing die-cut stickers for the artist community, creating viral marketing for sports teams, and pushing the boundary of conventional printing.
In 2015, after seeing the coming crossroads of Art and the Cannabis Community, Sticker Farmer expanded their business to become a leader in Cannabis packaging, Design aesthetic and a direct influence in the evolution of the exploding Cannabis market. In the beginning, Sticker Farmer worked closely with Runtz, Lemon Tree, Cookies, Fields Family Farms, and other top names, to help support their growth and name brand recognition.
These days, Sticker Farmer is known worldwide as being at the forefront of packaging, including labeled mylar bags and jars, diecut shaped bags, custom boxes, stickers and labels, and much more. With four locations across California and harnessing the talent of a graphic design team, Sticker Farmer proudly represents the convergence of Art and Cannabis Packaging and the limitless possibilities.
Terp Hogz + Deep East Farms wall statement
Emerald Triangle brand Terphogz and their legendary creation Zkittlez stand among the most dominant strains on the planet in 2024—powering billions of dollars in sales and captivating tastebuds worldwide. One of the earliest groups to enter the branding movement, their stylized ‘Z’ is one of the most iconic logos in all of cannabis, representing tens of millions of dollars of intellectual property. This is punctuated by their settlement of a two year federal lawsuit with candy maker Mars/Wrigley’s in which they fought tooth and nail to keep their Z logo.
Deep East, working under siege in East Oakland, not only created the hit strains RS-11 and Zoap, but breeder/grower Deep East Rob hand-cut the Zoap bag lettering out of a bar of soap, borrowing from Fight Club. Deep East has consistently shown a high degree of sophistication in their bag design—using classical features like statuary, overlaid with a gritty, mixed-media, urban graffiti look. Capturing the sorrow, beauty, vibrance, and violence of The Town.
TerpHogz x Deep East have shared a long relationship of friendship, breeding and business in Northern California with one of their most recent collaborative offerings being a strain called Rainbow Z.
Food wall statement
The mylar bag is a placebo. It suggests a food, or flavor, or effect that prompts the user to seek out those qualities in the cannabis. “Candy” strains based off Z are super-hot right now. Funky ‘GMO’ strains provide a savory counter-point. Cannabis heightens the senses, especially smell, and taste. Cannabis brings on hunger. No surprise then that so many bags have food as their subject. Fun fact: a diet pill called Rimonabant works like the inverse of marijuana, suppressing appetite by doing the opposite of THC pharmacologically. Rimonabant was pulled from European pharmacies for a notable side-effect: People didn’t want to eat, but they didn’t want to live, either. Hunger is life. Stay hungry. Stay fed.
Mega-Wall statement
“There is a river of creation, and time is a violent stream. As soon as one thing comes into sight, it is swept past, and another is carried down. It too, will be taken on its way.”
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
The “Get to the Bag” MEGA WALL was suggested by gallery manager Chelsea Rogoff, and encouraged by the Picasso Museum’s grid wall in Barcelona, Spain. We aim to overwhelm with the sheer body of work available.
More than any other commercial art sector, cannabis mylar art has an incredibly high “metabolism.” Brands design and print small runs of 100 sticker bags for a single product launch on one night. They make bags to commemorate a fallen comrade. They respond to news headlines with a bag the same week. Every day is a Cambrian Explosion of bag art species—small, nimble, rugged, and indomitable.
Taken as a whole, mylar bags exist far beyond the utilitarian profit motive. Brands and consumers are in visual conversation with each other. These bags are an endless, comic, and riveting visual conversation awaiting your contribution.
Take only pictures. Leave your money in the gift shop.
Die-Cut Wall statement
A cut bag with a specific cut-out shape is called a “die-cut” bags. The term comes from the printing templates, call “dies”, which can be customized to make almost any shape. A die-cut can look like a cookie, or a Happy Meal, or a body part. Die-cuts put form over function to create something new, catchy, and often hilarious for consumers. Your imagination is the only limitation. Future die-cuts might include hyper-non-functional ‘conceptual’ art pieces that is less about holding weed, or fitting in your pocket, and more about making a statement with a low-cost, mass-produced, interactive, physical artifact.
NSFW Section
Cannabis people are habitual line-steppers, and that extends to their art. The Not Safe For Work bag genre is Often banned from licensed stores, or must be sold in a cover like a Hustler Magazine. NSFW bags abound in the traditional market where rules and regulations do not apply. Ultimately, NSFW bags transgress the line of commerce—a good demarcation for where commerce ends and art potentially begins. If you’re not being censored, or offending people, are you even really making new, cool art? Maybe. Maybe not. The answer is in the eye of the beholder.
San Francisco Bay Area wall
Featuring a rotating cast of San Francisco Bay Area brands young and old.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did we smoke all the pot in these bags?
Yes.
Where did they all come from?
They are collections of donors who responded to a social media call for bags.
Where are the bags from?
All over the country and world. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, and beyond.
Can I give you my bags?
Yes. Contact us to submit your bags. “Get to the Bag” is coming to Los Angeles, New York, Denver and Miami. And will return to San Francisco in 2025.
Keep in touch with “Get to the Bag”
Follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our Newsletter. Vote for your favorite bag by taking a picture of it and placing it on your Instagram grid with the hashtag: “SFWeedWeek”
Credits
“Get to the Bag” 2024. Created by Cannabis Journalist David Downs. Exhibition Design by Conor Buckley and Eric Lister. Web development, catalog, and photography by Keith Woody. Exhibition supervision by Chelsea Rogoff, Poesia.
“Get to the Bag” donors/collections: Permanent Holiday, Eric Lister, Shannon McInerney, Keith Woody, Dallas Growers Club, Golden State Banana, Moon Made Farms, Teds Budz, Archive Oregon, Mio and Coral, Chronic Culture + Ariana, Dusted Brooklyn, Black Market Vikings, Heights, K Kim (East Coast bags), Kanha, UpNorth, PAX, Sticker Farmer, Terp Hogz, Grove with Terploc, Mike in Moraga, Marina Henry, Max Blickstein, Sunset Connect, Bennzoil, Turtle Pie, Sync SF, Globs.
SF Weed Week founding advisors: Ali Jamalian, Neil Dellacava, Shannon McInerney, Sabrina Pacheco, Ben Grambergu.
Show sponsors: Compound Genetics, Sticker Farmer, Seven Leaves, Kanha, Permanent Holiday, Terphogz, Deep East, Sunset Connect, UpNorth, Bloom vapes, Chronic Culture, HolySmokes, PAX, Sauce, Meadow, Leafly, Flywheel Coffee, Snowtill, Moon Valley Cannabis, Flora and Flame
Supporters: Ridgeline Farms, Cookies, Sherbinskis, Champelli, Super Dope, Teds Budz, Ngaio Bealum, The East Cut, Jeremy Fish
Staff/Volunteers: Loren Solomon, Isaac Goldman, Bram Goodwin, Brightstar Matt, Fiona McInerney, Ellen Holland, Rachelle Gordon, Lester Black, Kaisha-Dyan McMillan, Brian Applegarth, and CT.
Thank you to Mayor London Breed, SF Rec and Park, Santos Alferez, Mirus Gallery, Paul Hemming, Phoenix, Jay, Saane, AlphaGraphics-Mission, Brothers SF taco truck, KQED, SF Gate, KRON, GreenState, CBS, Beard Bros, all of our media, and the entire San Francisco Bay Area cannabis community in the region and statewide. Email us if we missed a donor or credit. See you for “Get to the Bag” 2025!
God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a draught—nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!
Herman Mellville, Moby Dick