Daniel Johnston

by Philippe Vergne, Harvey Pekar, Jad Fair

Daniel Johnston only ever dreamt of two things: he wanted to be a rock star and he wanted to be a famous artist. Amazingly enough, he succeeded at both. Today he is an acclaimed indie music star whose charmingly twisted songs have been covered by the likes of Beck, Yo La Tengo, and TV on The Radio. His artwork appears in galleries throughout the world and was featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Johnston’s pen and colored marker drawings contain a range of characters, some benign or heroic, and others quite disturbing. In his complex world, good battles evil attended to by an assortment of playful characters. Johnston’s world is also informed by his conservative Christian upbringing, and filled with depictions of biblical vengeance and salvation. Looking at his work, we are reminded of Heironymous Bosch as much as DC Comics. Daniel Johnston contains over 150 full color illustrations, many taken from the artist’s private archives and never seen before. There is also commentary and analysis by the Walker Art Center’s Philippe Vergne, alt-rock luminary Jad Fair, and underground comic legend, Harvey Pekar. "I see him as an artist on the periphery of the art world, but not an outsider artist . . . It’s impressive when you see the consistency of the work."—Philippe Vergne

Genres: Art, Music

156 pages, Hardcover

First published February 17, 2009

About the author

Philippe Vergne is the deputy director and chief curator at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Reviews

[RUTHIE · Rating 4 out of 5]

ate up the words-to-pictures ratio.

[Phillip Goodman]

The perfect/imperfect visual crystalisation of Johnston's music, in all its weirdness, hopefulness and heartache, look at these pictures and you can see his songs, you can hear his voice.
The essays/tributes in this book are great, and very much lift the veil, each of them showing a different side of Johnston's work and personality.

P.S. Daniel Johnston on dancing with the stars???? why the hell not?? read this book and you'll know what i'm talking about haha.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Johnston is as talented a musician as he is an artist and is it possible his success was both inevitable and a happy accident?

[Sir DvZt]

Daniel Johnston rules!!!!

[Sarah Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

pure gold*