Fat City Gallery

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Fat City Gallery

Fat City Gallery displays artwork by Thomas W. Benton, Ralph Steadman, Hunter S. Thompson and Contemporary Artists Thompson and the artwork of activist Thomas W.
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Fat City Gallery is dedicated to preserving the history of Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Benton and gonzo artist Ralph Steadman. Featuring a complete set of Aspen Wallposters from Thompson’s Freak Power campaign for Pitkin County Sheriff in 1970, the museum also contains numerous political posters by Thomas W. Benton, artwork by Ralph Steadman, and original manuscripts that catalog and capture the sp

irit of Gonzo. The museum collection is curated by Daniel Joseph Watkins and located at 521 East Hyman Ave. in Aspen, Colorado.

08/06/2025

The Sheriff Revised, 1997
Five Color Silkscreen on Paper
Paper Size, 44” x 30”
Professionally Framed, 48.5” x 34.5”
Artist’s Proof
Signed in pencil by Ralph Steadman
Signed in pencil by Hunter S. Thompson

07/14/2025

Hunter’s World
Paul Pascarella
Deckled Edge Paper
Unframed
Signed
30” x 24”

Paul Pascarella got his start as a graphic artist and abstract painter in Aspen in the late 1960s. A friend of Hunter S. Thompson, he famously designed Thompson’s iconic gonzo logo in 1970—a double-thumbed fist holding a pe**te button atop a dagger.
Created shortly after Thompson’s death in 2005, “Hunter’s World” is a painted collage of gonzo iconography as a tribute to the artist’s late friend.
The print features the text “Sorry, I seem to have lost my composure,” scrawled by Pascarella.
When asked about losing “the good Doctor,” Pascarella remarked, “Who else can I call at 4 a.m?”

City

07/12/2025

Flying Dog
Ralph Steadman
Signed by Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman
Vintage Poster
Inscribed by Ralph Steadman, “Good Beer, No Sh*t”
Inscribed by Hunter S. Thompson, “Ralph Eats Sh*t”
Museum Frame
68” x 45”

The goal of Flying Dog Brewery was to store the rebellious attitude of Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman in a bottle. Funded by physicist and philanthropist George Stranahan in Aspen, Colorado the trio originally wanted to put “Good Beer, No Sh*t” across the label which was quickly censored and based on obscenity laws, the beer was banned. Flying Dog bit back, taking the case to court with the ACLU in its corner and the First Amendment as its battle cry.
They won—not just the case, but a place in the pantheon of free speech warriors in true outlaw fashion. This is one of the original banners promoting the beer and is also a blatant display of gonzo humor. The label is based off of Steadman’s vision of Thompson’s signature look with his classic accents of paint splatters. Beneath “Good people drink good beer” Thompson scribbled “Ralph eats sh*t” –the layers of rebellion and humor run deep and strong.

07/09/2025

Computer Shark
Ralph Steadman
Vintage Original
Museum Frame
31.5” x 41”

This multimedia work by Ralph Steadman appeared on page 105 of the September 9th issue of Fortune magazine accompanying the article “Burned by Technology” by Stephanie Losee. The piece explores the widespread adoption of computer systems in the 1990s and the resulting resistance from within corporate culture.
Steadman contributed several illustrations to the article, including Computer Shark, a biting satire on the emerging human dependence on technology. With his signature grotesque style, Steadman captures the absurdity of this technoservile relationship through the image of a shark hunched obsessively over a computer; an image that feels even more prescient and relevant in today’s digitally dominated world.

07/07/2025

Surfers
Ralph Steadman
Original Illustration
Signed and Dated
Museum Frame
31” x 41”
Includes inscription on verso, “Don’t give this away, sell it for a million dollars!”

In 1980 the famous duo; Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman travelled to Hawaii under the pretense of covering the Honolulu Marathon for Running magazine. What began as a light assignment quickly spiraled into a chaotic, satirical examination of American excess, tourism, and cultural displacement in Hawaii. Out of their time in Hawaii Thompson created his book The Curse of Lono, and Steadman produced his classic grotesque, hallucinatory illustrations.
This piece reflects the Gonzo aesthetic applied to a Hawaiian setting. A bird-like man sweeps down a massive wave, his face is disorienting and truly strange. The image is slightly haunting and refelct’s Thompson’s signature critical humor, viewing Hawaii as a tropical escape with an underbelly darkened by the western commodification of paradise.

07/05/2025

Going Home
Ralph Steadman
Five Color Silkscreen on Rising Stonehenge Deckle Edge Paper
Paper Size: 30” x 22”
Signed by Ralph Steadman, Ed Bradley, Anita Thompson, Johnny Depp, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Brinkley, Deborah Fuller, Bill Murray, Laila Nabulsi,
Jann Wenner, Bob Braudis, and Juan Thompson
Stamped with Hunter S. Thompson’s personal “Gonzo” stamp
Signed on the Back by the Printer Joe Petro III

On August 20, 2005 Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes were blasted out of a 153 foot tall cannon with an earth shaking boom. Relatives and a star-studded crowd gathered at Thompson’s ranch in Woody Creek, Colorado as they bid an irreverent farewell.
“All I’m doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true,” Johnny Depp said to the Associated Press at the time of the funeral, “We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design.”
This design featured a monument, taller than the Statue of Liberty, topped with Thompson’s signature double-thumbed red fist clutching a pe**te button, a symbol originally used in his 1970 campaign for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado.
Steadman’s creative rendition of this event features Thompson flying skyward accessorised with his identifiable cigar, aviators, and bucket hat.

06/25/2025

You’re invited to the opening of our Ralph Steadman exhibition at Fat City Gallery, this Saturday, June 28, 6:00 - 10:00 PM. Join us for an evening celebrating Steadman’s iconic work, surrounded by art, conversation, and community. We look forward to welcoming you!

05/28/2025

Ralph Steadman – Surfers, 1984
Original illustration, signed and dated by the artist.
Museum-framed, 41” x 33”
Available now at Fat City Gallery
$50,000

A rare piece from the legendary Gonzo artist at the height of his wildest wave.
🔗 Link in bio

05/21/2025

A new way to open your eyes, fill your mind or line your waste basket was introduced to Aspen this week with publication of the first issue of The Aspen Wall Poster. Designed as a bi-monthly output of graphics and opinion printed in a poster format, the new publication is the result of efforts by Tom Benton and Hunter S. Thompson to fill the editorial void created by the recent close of the Aspen Illustrated News.

Although they claim to be entirely free of outside group influence, Benton noted that if you burn a candle under the poster, the word “revolution” appears. Thompson said that if you urinated on it, secret messages would come out in the margins, but he didn’t recommend doing it when you were holding the candle under.

A special collection of the double issue of Aspen Wall Poster #4 in triptych form with museum frames.

Aspen Wall Poster #4 Triptych - Set of Three
Vintage, June 1970
Artwork by Thomas W. Benton
Writing by Hunter S. Thompson
Offset Lithograph
Front Frame Size, 28” x 21”
Middle Frame Size, 28” x 35.25”
Back Frame Size, 28” x 21”
$15,000.00

05/06/2025

Thomas W. Benton
Two vintage silkscreens from the iconic Aspen artist, each signed and dated, framed to museum standards.

Abstract, 1967
Edition 17/22
Signed in pencil
Silkscreen on paper
30.5” x 24.5” | $7,500

Abstract, 1996
Signed + dated in pencil
Silkscreen on paper
30.5” x 24.5” | $7,500

A rare glimpse into Benton’s exploration of form and color—striking studies in simplicity and movement.

04/06/2025

Join our artist for the opening of Gilded West by Cole Smith & Jeff Stevens at — April 12th, 6:00 - 10:00 PM

Can’t make it to the opening? You can explore Cole Smith’s work online now — visit fatcitygallery.com to learn more.

03/07/2025

Axel Livingston’s Microwave on High for One Minute dissects the intersections of consumption, objectification, and decay—where the lines between human and animal blur. On view .ink through March 14.

Check out his artwork available on Fat City Gallery.

Address

415 E. Hyman Avenue
Aspen, CO
81611

Telephone

+19705100656

Website

http://Fatcitygallery.com/

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