Bunny’s art grew out of the counterculture scene of the 1970s, fueled by teenage rebellion, alternative music, and anti-establishment underground newspapers. He rubbed elbows with legendary local musicians at record stores and alt-weeklies, and he helped open Tipitina’s as a racially integrated music venue. Bunny Matthews will explore Bunny’s many obsessions—music, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and how New Orleans evolved as it passed through the oil boom of the 1970s, the growth of the tourism industry in the 1980s, economic stagnation during the 1990s, and demographic changes after Hurricane Katrina. It will also delve into the controversy surrounding the artist throughout his career, as well as the enduring legacy he left behind. 

The Historic New Orleans Collection has been collecting Bunny’s work since 1979 and acquired a large collection of his original drawings after his passing in 2021. In 2026, HNOC will publish Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions, a biography of the artist by Alison Fensterstock and Michael Tisserand. Together, the book and exhibition will provide a sketch of the city in the latter half of the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st through the unique perspective of this New Orleans original.