Hi, how are you?
First-ever digital artwork from legendary late Texas artist up for auction
Fans of legendary Austin songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston can now collect a truly unique piece of his work.
For the first time ever, the Johnston family and the Daniel Johnston Estate will release one of Johnston’s previously unseen original works of art — titled “Daniel Johnston is Alive Somewhere” — which will be available through a 24-hour auction as a nonfungible token, or NFT.
NFTs are digital tokens tied to assets — like rare art — that can be bought, sold, and traded. The “Daniel Johnston is Alive Somewhere” NFT will be offered exclusively through the Foundation.app platform beginning Friday, April 9 at 2 pm. The piece is one in a series of NFTs Johnston’s estate plans to release.
While the medium may be a bit more state-of-the-art than collectors of Johnston’s works are used to, the original piece, discovered after the artist’s death, is unmistakably Johnston, featuring a multi-colored army of his signature “friendly frogs” backed by a keyboard excerpt from Johnston’s perfectly eccentric “Fly Eye” groove from his 1985 musical release, “Continued Story.” Even better: The frogs, whose animated eyes blink, seemingly ask, “Hi, how are you?” then reply, “Fine, thank you.”
“The foundation for this piece is an original Daniel drawing that was found shortly after his passing in 2019 — a message to us all that his spirit is very much alive,” says Dick Johnston, the unconventional and beloved artist’s brother.
Though Johnston was born in California, died just outside of Houston in Waller, Texas, and was internationally celebrated, Austin was his adopted hometown, and his influences and art remain a quintessential and exceptional part of local culture and lore, his best-known piece being the “Hi, How Are You” mural — featuring his trademark frog — on The Drag.
As CultureMap previously noted, though he was considered the pride of the Austin indie-music scene, many Houstonians gave him love throughout the years. Houston is the place where Speeding Motorcycle, the 2006 rock opera based on Johnston's songs, premiered. Heights spot Redbud Gallery also put his artwork on display from time to time. A can't-miss for fans new and old is the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, which also showcases his love of sharing.
“I often say, only half-joking, that Daniel was the original file sharer,” says Johnston’s longtime manager, Tom Gimbel. “He would walk up to people on the street and say, ‘Hi, how are you? I’m Daniel Johnston and this is my new album,’ and hand them a cassette. What was most important to Daniel was for the world to receive and enjoy his art and music. He was always open to embrace new technologies if it was a way to deliver more art.”
Coinciding with the release of the first Johnston NFT, the Johnston Estate is also launching a new website that will sell a gallery of Johnston’s original pen and colored-marker drawings.
And if after reveling in all that art you still haven’t gotten your Daniel Johnston fix, head over to The Contemporary Austin’s Jones Center, which will host an exhibit titled “Daniel Johnston: I Live My Broken Dreams,” the first major museum survey of visual art and music created by the artist. It runs from September 11, 2021 through May 20, 2022, and is sure to be a fitting tribute to a creative Austin genius.
