Ralph Steadman and The Chambers Project: A mind-bending trip into the artistic world of psychedelia
The advent of lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD to you and me, certainly has a lot to answer for. From its inception by Albert Hofmann in a Swiss laboratory, acid went on to become the definitive drug of countercultural revolution and mind-expanding self-discovery. Whereas other drugs might quell any notions of motivation or creative drive, LSD fostered a vibrant artistic landscape, culminating in the psychedelic rock age of the 1960s, spearheaded by groups like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, but quickly adopted by rock giants like The Beatles.
Psychedelic rock is among the most important and interesting periods in musical history, but it would be nothing without the influence of the art. Psych albums and gig posters of the 1960s and 1970s featured some truly groundbreaking cover art, introducing a whole new generation to the mind-bending qualities of acid. Although the peace and love era of the hippie counterculture is firmly in the past, psychedelic artwork never lost its appeal, especially not in the hearts and minds of people like Brian Chambers.
Chambers is a noted art collector and dealer operating on the American West Coast, with a particular interest in the world of psychedelics. Now, he has unveiled an entirely new gallery and exhibition, dubbed ‘Godfathers’, which aims to celebrate the pioneering influence of psychedelic artists, including the likes of Roger Dean, Rick Griffin, Jacaeber Kastor, and Ralph Steadman. When Chambers agreed to an interview with us at Far Out, I was somewhat sceptical. I had an idea in my head of what an ‘art collector’ was, and it was not the most flattering image. Thankfully, when Chambers popped up on a video call, bedecked in tie-dye and standing in front of a bronze statue of Hunter S. Thompson, I knew I was in safe hands.
As Chambers explained to me, the gallery owner owes a great debt to the work of Gonzo progenitors Ralph Steadman and Hunter S. Thompson. “It started when I was 16 years old in 1995,” he shared, “I had just got done reading the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which has obviously got a lot of a lot of psychedelics going on. That’s when I discovered the work of Ralph Steadman. And for me, I had a very serious awakening”.
Steadman had first secured his start drawing cartoons for Private Eye before being invited to collaborate with Dr Gonzo himself, Hunter S. Thompson. Thus began a wonderful partnership which would change the world of art and journalism indefinitely.
His work on illustrating Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is perhaps how most people got their introduction to the distinctive art of Steadman, but it was not until much later that the Cheshire-born artist realised the impact of the partnership. Writing over email, Steadman told me that he did not consider the importance of his work with Hunter until “Probably after his death,” he said, before adding: “Do you ever really acknowledge the big moments in life until afterwards? I suppose I dealt with it all when writing The Joke’s Over.”
He continued, “Until I met Hunter, I was looking for something bigger. I knew that I couldn’t go on the rest of my life drawing something which would just fill a space.”
The result of this awakening was Steadman’s incredible work on articles like The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved and, most famously, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The wonderfully disconcerting, abstract and deliberately messy style of Steadman perfectly encapsulated the chaos of Thompson’s writing – though Steadman was quick to correct me, “I don’t like the term style. It’s not about style”.
Despite the brilliance of this artwork, it was locked away in a cupboard for years, having originally been created for Rolling Stone magazine. This is where Brian comes into the picture. “I got a call from a lady at Sotheby’s auction house, asking me to appraise the Fear and Loathing collection of originals from Rolling Stone,” he explained.
Steadman is well known for his stance on the ownership of his art, famously saying, “If anyone owns a Steadman original, it’s stolen”. And that stance primarily comes from the artist being ripped off in his early years. So, when Chambers got wind of the Fear and Loathing originals going up for auction, he was straight on the phone to Steadman. “He gave me Jann Wenner’s email, and when I went to his house in New York, he literally had to dig [the artwork] out of his closet”.
Continuing, he added: “I think that is just very unfortunate because this stuff means so much to so many people.”
In a summation of his own personal manifesto, Chambers affirmed, “As a fan of Ralph, I thought it was just so disappointing that nobody had ever been able to see this collection of work”. This leads us to The Chambers Project, showcasing the greatest examples of psychedelic artwork to the public on a daily basis, hailing them as the important cultural and artistic artefacts that they so clearly are. “That’s really priority number one: To make this world-class art accessible without being in a stuffy sort of museum environment.”
As Chambers lifted his laptop to give me a virtual tour of the gallery, it was difficult not to be impressed. I enjoy a stuffy old art gallery as much as the next emotionally repressed Englishman, but there was something so beautiful about seeing Jimi Hendrix posters and Ralph Steadman cartoons hanging on walls with the same level of importance that would otherwise be afforded to artists like Picasso or Monet.
Even during my brief chat with Chambers, his utter adoration for the world of psychedelic art and music became abundantly clear. After all, the two art forms are invariably linked and somewhat co-dependent on each other. Apparently, Chambers originally wanted to open this gallery in San Francisco, where so many of the great psych bands had formed, but he noted, “San Francisco is not what it once was; there’s been an exodus of people moving up to this area [Grass Valley, California] for a very long time.” Nevertheless, much of the artwork on display centres around that early Bay Area psychedelic rock scene.
Although music was a vital aspect of the psychedelic art movement, it was never something that particularly troubled Ralph Steadman. His partner-in-crime, Hunter Thompson, was noted for his love of Bob Dylan and the seminal Jefferson Airplane album Surrealistic Pillow, meanwhile, Brian Chambers listed the Grateful Dead’s Aoxomoxoa as his ‘Holy Grail’ of psychedelia. When I asked Steadman the musical artists he most admired from that period, he simply responded, “I admire artists like Picasso, George Grosz, Hogarth, Giles and Rembrandt” – and you can’t argue with that, I suppose.
He might have been resistant to discussing the joys of psychedelia or the unique tones of the Grateful Dead, but Ralph Steadman encapsulates the genius of the psych movement more than most. Not only has his artwork illustrated some of the most beloved works of countercultural literature, but the man himself remains fearlessly and unapologetically individualistic well into his eighth decade. In a statement that could and should act as a rallying cry for artists everywhere – psychedelic or otherwise – Steadman concluded our interview by saying, “I do what I do – I do not do roughs, and I go straight in with ink. People ask, ‘Aren’t you worried about making a mistake?’ I reply, ‘There is no such thing as a mistake; a mistake is an opportunity to do something else!’”
The Chambers Project is open weekdays from 10am to 4pm and is located on Main Street in Grass Valley, California.