Art Review: ‘Freak Power’ — Hunter S. Thompson Campaign Posters

There’s no better time than today for a splash of Gonzo. Freak Power is the new exhibition at Poster House in Manhattan. It’s very fun, very serious, and very good. It’s about the posters promoting Hunter S. Thompson’s 1970 candidacy for sheriff of Pitkin County in Colorado, at the center of which is Aspen.

Political journalism is impoverished, except for sycophancy and hackery. In both of these, the field is alive, but alive like the Walking Dead. Hunter Thompson (1937–2005), now, there’s a journalist. Rolling Stone’s roving reporter-cum-novelist gave the profession a jolt with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1971 and his coverage of the 1972 presidential election.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

There’s no better time than today for a splash of Gonzo. Freak Power is the new exhibition at Poster House in Manhattan. It’s very fun, very serious, and very good. It’s about the posters promoting Hunter S. Thompson’s 1970 candidacy for sheriff of Pitkin County in Colorado, at the center of which is Aspen.

Political journalism is impoverished, except for sycophancy and hackery. In both of these, the field is alive, but alive like the Walking Dead. Hunter Thompson (1937–2005), now, there’s a journalist. Rolling Stone’s roving reporter-cum-novelist gave the profession a jolt with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1971 and his coverage of the 1972 presidential election.