Freak Power: Hunter S. Thompson

The Freak Power exhibition is a collection of political art and writing from Hunter S. Thompson’s 1970 campaign for sheriff of Aspen and the surrounding Pitkin County in Colorado. Thompson created a controversial and widely publicized campaign by writing about political issues in his witty, savage voice and collaborating with local and international artists to create clever political graphics. The rare art from those campaigns is highly sought after by collectors, and much of the work has not been seen by the public since the campaign. There is also a considerable amount of Thompson’s writing from that time that has not been republished since 1970. Curator Daniel Joseph Watkins has searched exhaustively through archives and private collections to gather the art and writing for this exhibition. The story told through this multidisciplinary show focuses on political art, writing and history.