[10][11] Hambleton founded and became a co-director of Pumps Centre for Alternative Art, a gallery, performance and video space in Vancouver where he had his first solo exhibition in 1976.

[13][14] Like Hambleton's future "Shadowman" paintings, the Image Mass Murder "crime scenes" would often have the effect of startling or shocking passersby.

[20][21] In 1983, during Malcolm McLaren's fashion design partnership with Vivienne Westwood, they collaborated with Hambleton to create a "Shadowman" jersey skirt.

When he throws white or black on the canvas, his waves break, his rodeo rider bucks, a man shot seems blown apart.”[25] In the early nineties, Hambleton began to withdraw from the art scene.

[30][31] Among group exhibitions in 1984, he participated in Arte di Frontiera: New York Graffiti, an Italian exhibition visited by thousands of spectators, that toured in three towns starting at the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, with a catalog by Mazzotta then to the Arengario del Duomo in Milano, and then the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.

[34] Hambleton's last show during his lifetime was a pop-up exhibition[35] after the first Tribeca Film Festival screening of the documentary about his life presented by Red Splat Productions and Gallery X.

Featuring the last artworks by Hambleton and some never before seen works, the show opened on January 12 and was co-curated by Edward Straka, Alasdair Pitt and HKwalls.

[44][45] The film covers his meteoric rise to success in the New York art scene, as well as his widely reported struggle with drug addiction.

[45][46][47][48][49][50][51] The album Clics Modernos by the Argentine musician Charly García features one of Richard's "Shadowman" paintings on the cover photo.