Daniel Johnston

Authors include: Fair, Vergne and Pekar.

Daniel Johnston is a bona-fide indie rock star whose Beatlesque songs are covered by musicians such as Beck, Yo La Tengo and TV on the Radio. In 1985, when he was just twenty-four, Daniel was hailed by MTV as the brightest light in the incredibly vibrant music scene. Soon after, he suffered the first of numerous mental breakdowns which would plague him for the rest of his life. In 2005, Daniel was the subject of a remarkable documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, which won the coveted Directors Award at the Sundance Film festival. Less than a year later, he was a featured artist at the Whitney Biennial. Daniel's artwork is in many ways, a counterpart to his music: charming, sometimes disturbing, inconsistent, always fascinating. Both Daniel's art and his music reflect the interior reality of a truly gifted artist whose day-to-day existence involves fighting off his own demons. Daniel's improbable and troubled existence is reflected in his guile-less, dark, fascinating imagery, which could be likened to that of a comic-book and pop culture obsessed adolescent German expressionist. Daniel's fan base is significant andincludes the influential downtown/fashion/art/music contingency. There is also a dedicted following of highly educated teens and young adults; the sort of kids who 25 years ago would have obsessed over Monty-Python.