The Jerry Garcia Music Arts label has partnered with the ecologically conscious Aerial to release the legend’s first-ever music art NFT. The cryptoart or NFT (non-fungible-token) will be available on the SuperRare platform on July 12. The title of the one-of-a-kind piece will be announced upon its release.
The visionary Garcia, an innovator of the 1960’s psychedelic San Francisco sound, well known as the guitarist and vocalist for the Grateful Dead, was also a pioneer in the visual arts, being the first of his contemporaries to create digital art.
As a teenager, he studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and worked with various media, including oil, watercolor, and pen and ink. Later, his art toured in galleries and museums throughout the United States and the world.
In January 2015, the Jerry Garcia Foundation launched an ongoing charity arts program in his honor, one focused on supporting environmental, artistic and humanitarian causes.
Jerry Garcia’s youngest daughter Keelin, a producer on the project, comments, “I tend to think my dad would love the concept of NFTs. This feels like a new, revolutionary space where artists and collectors can interact in a more meaningful way, and NFTs are so unique and unlike anything we have ever seen. I like to imagine the ethos of this movement would resonate with my dad’s philosophical views.”
A three percent donation of NFT net proceeds are to be donated to the Jerry Garcia Foundation. Gift grant funds will be allocated to support 1960s music legend Jorma Kaukonen’s Psylodelic Gallery located in Pomeroy, Ohio. The nonprofit gallery, cofounded by Jorma and his wife Vanessa, presents ever-revolving art shows focused on the “Summer of Love” spirit.
Another charitable element of this project will support the Jerry Garcia Foundation’s ocean preservation fund. Jerry Garcia frequently traveled to the Hawaiian Islands, and it was his love of scuba diving that helped foster his passion for ocean preservation.
This project also utilizes the carbon offset tools made available by Aerial — an environmentally conscious company focused on mitigating humanity’s carbon footprint.
