The former big league second baseman takes Boardroom’s Ros Gold-Onwude through his journey into visual art in the digital age.
Micah Johnson made it all the way to the Show, logging 61 games for the White Sox, Dodgers, and Braves between 2015 and 2017. But it’s his budding career as a professional artist that has ultimately come to capture imaginations, as he explained to Boardroom’s Ros Gold-Onwude — thanks to the power of digital art in the age of non-fungible tokens, plus some key inspiration from a very special family member.
“In 2020 when I got into NFTs, I really started stepping up my traditional [art] game. I discovered charcoal, I discovered oil painting, and at that time, I heard my nephew ask if astronauts could be Black.
“At that time, I wasn’t making any money. I wasn’t selling my art anywhere. So all I was doing was making canvases in my house and painting him in an astronaut helmet and showing it to him. Sending him pictures. And I was able to see how happy he was and how excited he was.
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“Fast-forward to AKU. My paintings are being collected by people, but it’s super-private. There’s not a community like there is in crypto. I’m going to create this character and I’m going to sell him as an NFT, because I knew that NFTs will empower me or tell me it’s trash. It was either one or the other. Sink or swim.“
As it turns out, Micah Johnson’s handiwork swam.
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