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They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And if the first man happens to be one Snoop D.O. Double G, any refuse he produces could be worth many Gs, as demonstrated this week by the artist Erica Kovitz. Seven unique mixed-media works Kovitz made with the remnants (or roaches) of marijuana cigars (or blunts) smoked by Snoop Dogg racked up 23 bids over a three-day online auction that closed on 18 August. Ultimately every work sold, for prices ranging from $9,000 to $70,000, bringing in a total of $148,100.
The auction was held on the platform 32auctions and organised by The Joint Venture, a company co-founded by Kovitz, who was a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders American football team before becoming an artist. The sale included a work featuring three roaches on a Tiffany Blue panel (Tiphany Smokes, which sold for $13,750) and another piece incorporating a Duchampian Readymade in the form of a CD of Snoop Dogg’s breakout debut album, Doggystyle (1993). The latter work, Doggystyle Decoded, sold for $16,500.
The sale’s top lot, Snoop Doggy Dogg Genesis Burn, included a roach, marijuana ashes and a copy of Snoopzilla’s 1993 Los Angeles Police Department mugshot. And while every other work in the sale had been signed by Calvin Broadus with his more succinct “Snoop Dogg” alias, he revived his “retired signature”—the full “Snoop Doggy Dogg”—for the Genesis Burn work, which ultimately sold for $70,000.
Kovitz credits her husband, the record executive Jay Kovitz, and Snoop Dogg’s longtime business manager Kevin Barkey, with first conceiving of the idea of turning the hip-hop legend’s blunt ends into art. “I took that spark and expanded it into a full collection that bridges street authenticity and fine-art credibility,” she said in a statement.
“Crucially, this project reflects Snoop’s heart and generosity,” the artist said. “He saved his own roaches for this not out of convenience, but because it mattered. That personal touch deepens every piece.” She added: “A roach isn’t an ending—it’s a signature: a quiet crown on a moment. A breath between empires.”
This is not the artist formerly known as Snoop Lion’s first foray into visual art. In a splashy 2014 commercial for the brand Happy Socks, he put down his blunt to wield palette and paintbrush, creating bold abstract compositions.
“Painting gives me an emotion like no other,” he said in the spot. “I could cry while I’m painting. I can laugh while I’m painting. I can be serious while I’m painting. I don’t have no parameters. When I’m rapping, there’s certain things I can’t do. When I’m acting, there’s certain things I can’t do. There’s certain things I won’t do. But with the painting, there’s no limit.” (Tha Doggfather was also rumoured to be the secretive collector of non-fungible tokens known as Cozomo de’ Medici, but those rumours were never confirmed and Cozomo’s true identity remains a mystery.)
While only seven works were offered in the recent 32auctions sale, Kovitz’s entire Ashes to Art collection includes around 20 works, with the possibility of additional private commissions for buyers with their mind on their money and their money on custom blunt art. For now, collectors who feel they missed out on these rare Snoop mementos will just have to chill—till the next auction.
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