Jerry Garcia Family Announces Digital Art NFT Collection

The Jerry Garcia Family announced a digital art NFT collection featuring some of the final artworks Grateful Dead guitarist and visual artist Jerry Garcia created. Facilitated by NFT marketplace Yellowheart, the first part of the NFT collection titled An Odd Little Place: The Digital Works of Jerry Garcia (1992-1995) launches today ahead of the second installment which will debut on August 1, what would have been Jerry’s 79th birthday. Finally, a Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Exhibition is set to open to the public on August 6 to coincide with an auction beginning on August 5.

Jerry Garcia was an early champion of digital art and the collection boasts 20 works created by Jerry in the medium including “17 limited edition pieces of original digital artwork and three additional works that were found in the Garcia Archive in a folder entitled ‘Last 48 Hours,’” as per a press release. The three additional works — titled Jiom, oop and the unfinished and previously unseen ni kil After 9 Hours — were created just days before Garcia’s death on August 9, 1995.

Jerry’s daughter Trixie Garcia spoke about her father’s love of technology, the digital medium and more in a statement. Read her words below:

My Dad was a huge fan of computers and gadgetry, something like blockchain would have really intrigued him. As an artist, Jerry would value the freedom potential for artists…We are delighted to share these immersive landscapes and playful images. These early digital art making tools enabled a visionary like my father to share the scenes from his mind. He was telling stories in a new medium and it’s beautiful. Because of computers and digital technology, musicians, writers and visual artists are able to take their work to the next level and share on a global platform. We want to pay respect to art and technology.

Yellowheart founder and CEO Josh Katz further detailed the collection can collaboration with The Garcia Family:

We are honored to be able to partner with the Garcia family to showcase the innovative digital works of Jerry Garcia. NFT technology is the perfect medium to showcase the digital art that Jerry was creating on his computer 26 years ago. Jerry is a pioneer of so many artistic and musical forms it makes perfect sense that he was also a pioneer of digital art years before NFTs. As a lifelong Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia fan – and a guitar player myself – it’s always been a dream for me to be able to work with the Garcia family, and it has been an absolute pleasure collaborating with Trixie Garcia and Marc Allan on this collection. I am so excited to show the world these incredible digital works in the manner they were meant to be displayed and provide Garcia fans a truly unique and exclusive way to enjoy them that also pays homage to Garcia’s love for digital technology

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Preview An Odd Little Place: The Digital Works of Jerry Garcia (1992-1995) in the trailer video below: