A chronicle of the life and political activism of artist Thomas W. Benton with 150 images of his artwork. Benton´s silkscreen posters cataloged political movements and elections from 1968 to 2006 and are a powerful visual account of the issues and campaigns that shaped history. In addition to numerous candidates and issues in Aspen, Colorado, Benton created political posters for presidential candidates George McGovern and Gary Hart, and against President Nixon. The book includes never-before-published images of the Aspen Wallposters, a collaboration of Benton´s art and Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson´s writing that promoted their Freak Power movement. Benton´s later works, including abstract silkscreens, monotypes and paintings, are also explored in relation to the artist´s life and philosophies. The book also includes Benton's commercial work in Aspen as a signmaker/printmaker, his architectural projects in Colorado and ten poems by close friend and lyricist Joe Henry.

Winner of the 2012 Colorado Book Award

Hunter S. Thompson came home from the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago disgusted yet motivated by what he’d seen: protests violently suppressed, riots, corrupt politicians and abusive cops. Back in Aspen, he found more of the same. The local police and sheriff’s departments were targeting hippies, charging them with absurd crimes, harassing them on the streets and trying to push them out of town. He knew something had to be done and he realized it had to be done by people like himself. The hippies, intellectuals, and freaks had remained silent long enough. The time had come to organize and seize political power.

Freak Power tells the story of Hunter’s plan to become Sheriff, take control of Aspen and transform it from a conservative mining town into a mecca for artists, rebels and activists. Through original print material from the campaign, photographs and political art, Freak Power chronicles a little known period in Hunter S. Thompson’s life, a period when he wrote prolifically about politics, the environment, drugs and American values. As the conservatives and freaks battled it out, the campaign became fraught with violence, accusations and moments of absurdity that bordered on fiction. As weird a tale as Thompson ever wrote, his own forays into politics may have been his wittiest and most thought-provoking escapade of all.

Written by Peggy Clifford

Introduction by Hunter S. Thompson

Afterword by Daniel Joseph Watkins

Photos Curated by David Hiser

Designed by Curt Carpenter

Edited by Catherine Lutz

232 Pages - Lavishly Illustrated in Black and White