Collection: daniel johnston

A cult artist on the American alternative scene, Daniel Johnston [1961-2019] lived and worked near Austin, Texas. Supported by Sonic Youth, Larry Clark, David Bowie and Matt Groening, he is considered the putative father of Anti-Folk, with his incredible melodies and his sometimes rudimentary sense of interpretation. Despite his art-school education, Daniel Johnston is often labelled a raw artist option pop-music, due to the serious psychological problems that disrupted his creative path from adolescence onwards.

A DIY enthusiast, he recorded his first songs in the early 80s on cassettes, which he then distributed on the street. The now-classics Songs of pain and Hi How are you? were originally released on this format. The intensive patronage of Kurt Cobain enabled Daniel Johnston to progress from the lo-fi recordings of his early days to more elaborate albums

Daniel Johnston's graphic work is particularly abundant. His drawings, compulsively executed with markers and ballpoint pens, depict hallucinatory scenes with implacable compositions. On paper, young Daniel's favorite heroes (Captain America, Hulk, Casper) return to deliver a merciless battle against the forces of Evil, assisted in this fight by his own characters.