Fred Tomaselli in his studio. (Photo by Julia Barton)
The association of art with altered states of consciousness goes back a long way. Archeological evidence of fermented beverages and some of the oldest musical instruments were found at the same 9,000-year-old site in China. (If the Lascaux painters had had six-packs, the caves would undoubtedly have been littered with them.) In modern times, it’s hard to imagine American culture without drugs — from the epic drinking of Hemingway and Fitzgerald to the reefer preferred by Louis Armstrong and other jazz musicians. Do alcohol and marijuana improve creativity? How do they compare with each other?
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