He’s good friends with Johnny Depp, lived in luxury in America and illustrated the Watergate crisis but now Ralph Steadman has taken an exhibition charting his life and career to Maidstone.

The cartoonist was joined by friends and colleagues as he opened the display of artwork at the town’s museum in St Faith’s Street on Friday night.

When asked how he would introduce A Retrospective, organised by London’s Cartoon Museum, to someone who had not experienced his work before Mr Steadman, who lives at Loose, seemed thrilled by the prospect.

Showing a series of distorted Polaroid photographs of public figures, including fellow artist David Hockney and former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, he said that the majority of his work is self-explanatory – most of it based on what he finds amusing.

Another key feature of the satirist’s work is authority, which he refers to as a “mask of violence.”

The 78-year-old said his issues with authority stemmed from his early years, referencing a run-in with his old head teacher while he was working as a store room boy at Woolworths.

He said: “My head teacher from grammar school walked past and saw me sweeping the road in front of the shop. He shouted at me that I’d never achieve anything in life.”

The extensive collection on display in the museum’s gallery certainly proves the teacher wrong, with work ranging from cartoons published in political satire magazine Private Eye to a number of illustrations from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – a project he worked on alongside a long-term associate, the late Hunter S. Thompson.

Maidstone Museum’s Lyn Palmer, who curated the exhibition said: “To have the work of an internationally important artist was amazing for us and the fact he is a local resident makes it doubly special.

“The display allows the public to see a collection which represents a total genius’s work .”

Mr Steadman will be judging the museum’s Bentlif Open Art Prize, which can be entered for £10 online at www.museum.maidstone.gov.uk/exhibitions, with a top prize of £500.

He was joined by deputy leader of Maidstone council Cllr Malcolm Greer at the opening and at one point jokingly grabbed him by the lapels.

The display of sculptures, cartoons and paintings will run until Saturday, February 28. Tickets are £3 for adults and £2 for concessions.