Daniel Johnston: I Think, I Draw, I Am is the largest New York solo exhibition of work by musician and artist Daniel Johnston (1961-2019). Curated by Lee Foster, co-owner of Electric Lady Studios and Curatorial Advisor for the Daniel Johnston Trust, the show features over 300 drawings that reveal the psychological depth and formal inventiveness of Johnston's comic-inspired art. Johnston first gained fame as a lo-fi musician in Austin, Texas, in the 1980s, and his graphic art reached a national audience when Kurt Cobain wore his Hi, How Are You? T-shirt at the 1992 MTV Music Awards.
The exhibition matters because it positions Johnston's visual art as a central, not secondary, part of his creative legacy, challenging the common perception of him as primarily a musician. By placing drawings from different periods in dialogue, the show highlights his idiosyncratic iconography blending religious apocalyptic imagery with superhero comics, and his emotionally raw inscriptions about life and anxiety. It affirms that Johnston's impulsive, unpolished drawing style was a direct expression of his inner world, offering a more complete understanding of his artistic output beyond his 18 albums and cult music status.