Bash Compactor: Bong Party

Miley Cyrus’ recent foray into the world of bong usage can only mean one thing: Pot paraphernalia is hot. At an opening at Easy Street Gallery in Williamsburg Saturday night, it was clear that bongs aren’t just the playthings of teen celebs—artsy twentysomethings are also investing in the collectibles.

"Oh, my God! Are those pipes?" asked a blond girl as she passed by, sandwich in mouth, her septum ring indicating a possible proclivity for marijuana usage. Inside, the DJ took a pause from playing reggae and stoner-appropriate electro so that a raucous raffle could be conducted. The lucky art-bong winner raised his can of PBR and screamed, "Fuck yeah!" It’s hard to describe the astounding aesthetic variety of the "tobacco-smoking glassware" on display in 20 or so cases around the hardwood-floored gallery. New pieces, a collaboration between featured artists J.A.G. and Slinger, held court in the front: bubblers with long, skinny necks and beaker-esque H2Oholding chambers, emblazoned with the figure of a girl in a MySpace-style pose— yours for only $900.

Then there were sliders (the kind you stuff and slide into the main part of a bong, not the kind you eat), also bearing the angsty figure, which Slinger seems to be very fond of. He even did a more traditional, non-bong, 6.5-by-4.5-foot wall installation called "When It Rains It Pours" that hung in the back, with a young female (whom Slinger refers to as "Assault Girl") holding an umbrella in one hand and packing heat in the other. "OMG, malicious Morton Salt biddy," said a friend of mine upon being texted a shot of the work.

In the non-glass art world, J.A.G. is known as Nate Purcell and Slinger is Aaron Golbert, two dudes from Philly. For their collaboration, J.A.G. sculpts and forms the hand-blown glass, then Slinger etches on his design. "We’re just really good friends who like to make art," said J.A.G. "And to make money."

Laugh now at a gallery full of bong art, but Slinger sees his creations going the way of ’80s graffiti, which he called "a world-wide movement."

"Art is something that takes chances and questions things," said Slinger. "And that’s what we’re doing here by putting it into the form of a functional pipe."

And what about their happy customers? "I’m just obsessed with collecting this stuff," said Herb from Boston, who sported a "Fuck Your Crew" T-shirt, emblazoned with the Starbucks logo mermaid flipping the bird, and bought four of J.A.G.’s oversized pillshaped pieces.

Adam, a pudgy, goateed Philadelphian, picked up a small piece with skulls on it. "It’s the only one that I’ve ever seen like it," he said. "So when I got an opportunity to buy it, I had to."