Blotter art
The use of graphics on blotter sheets originated as an underground art form in the early 1970s, sometimes to help identify the dosage, maker, or batch of LSD.
Individual pieces, separated along the perforations, were sold as "hits", with a carefully calculated dosage in micrograms, so users could plan the intensity of their "trip".
San Francisco collector Mark McCloud founded the Institute of Illegal Images, which includes over 33,000 sheets of blotter art.
Early in its history, LSD was distributed in liquid form, sometimes applied to sugar cubes, or in pills, capsules, or gelatin "window panes".
Other artworks that became blotter art were Frank Kozik's Tribute to Preston Blair, Stanley Mouse's Flying Eyeball, and Reverend Samuel's Lucifer.
[7] An acid dealer from Golden Gate Park who was interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle in 1979 thought that widespread interest in kung fu was responsible for Asian symbology in early blotter designs, including yin-yang symbols, Chinese dragons and stars.
[4] While early blotter art designs could be simple repetitions of a smiley face or a single word such as PURE[1] or YES,[7] the subject matter soon veered toward the fantastic, surreal, and metaphysical.
[11] A 1991 report from The Army Lawyer noted that tabs of acid were imprinted with designs of the Lucky Charms breakfast cereal mascot or Mickey Mouse.
[12] Blotter art often incorporates religious, mystical and occult symbology, such as pentagrams, a Tetragrammaton, Knights of Malta shields, the Giza pyramids, and UFOs.
[7] Blotter art often pays homage to figures within the psychedelic movement, such as Timothy Leary, Albert Hofmann, and the Furthur bus used by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.
[1] Early blotter art often employed Grateful Dead symbols such as bears and the Steal Your Face lightning bolt-skull logo.
[17] While blotter art originated in the early 1970s, most sheets of acid from the period were not preserved due both to their status as perishable commodities and their illegality.
[19] McCloud's collection includes blotter art based on works by psychedelic artist Rick Griffin, including his Surfing Jesus, The Gospel of John, and the print Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, which depicts Jesus and a Native American man smoking joints with the hookah-smoking caterpillar from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the background.
A raid found 30,000 sheets of undipped, perforated blotter art, which prosecutors argued McCloud was supplying to chemists and wholesalers.
[19] A binder of blotter sheets used as evidence by the prosecution in the case was obtained from drug busts throughout the United States in the decade prior to McCloud's arrest.
A special edition of the book included a sample of original blotter art depicting the Eye of Horus which is thought to be the oldest extant example of the medium.
Other drugs active in the microgram range are also distributed on blotting paper and carry blotter art, including 25I-NBOH,[11] 25I-NBOMe, Xanax,[30] Bromo-DragonFLY, and DOI.
