Lot 6 - Daniel Johnston (American, b. 1961) Untitled, original drawing on paper

From one of outsider art’s most celebrated minds.

Starting bid: $1500
Estimated value: $1600-$3000
Buyer's premium: 18%

DESCRIPTION:
Daniel Johnston (American, b. 1961) untitled, framed original drawing on paper

Dimensions - approx. 13 inches x 15.5 inches, framed

This untitled and undated piece is one of several Captain America drawings Johnston created throughout his life. Written in speech bubbles are the phrases: “Get real and I’ll be there okay?” “In love all problems disappear.” And “I love you.”

PROVENANCE:
Gallery 30 South - Las Vegas, Nevada
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2022


ABOUT:
Daniel Johnston was one of America’s most prized underground musicians and artists, known for the childlike quality he brought to everything he created. He began his career writing and recording songs on his family piano in West Virginia. After moving to Austin in 1984, he worked at McDonald’s and gave out his homemade tape recordings with hand-drawn covers to people he met, garnering him substantial attention, with packed crowds at his live shows.

The frog drawing from the cover of his album *Hi, How Are You?* has become well known, with a protected mural of the same drawing at the corner of 21st and Guadalupe Streets in Austin, and with Kurt Cobain wearing a t-shirt with the same drawing on the MTV Awards in 1992, during the rise of Nirvana. Johnston struggled with mental illness his entire life and was the focus of the 2005 documentary *The Devil and Daniel Johnston.*

Although his music production and performances decreased as he got older, he continued to focus on visual art until his death in 2019, leaving a substantial body of illustrated work, much of which is on 8 ½ x 11 drawing paper, like the one we have here.

*Condition report upon request.