Building worlds, with Aku World creator Micah Johnson

Transcript

imagine a world where every dream no matter how audacious or delusional it may seem was nurtured and protected that's the world I strive to create when I was a kid ever since I could talk I've been a delusional dreamer I told everybody that would listen that I was going to play Major League Baseball and I even have my sister in the Kool-Aid when he grows up he wants to be the same thing he's doing that does he really yeah and my entire life after that growing up in Indiana I heard the doubts and the limitations that Society placed on this delusional dream I even had a college coach tell me

I was not good enough to play at that level and I should go home I stayed it was in Cape Cod why would I go home back to Indiana and I practiced and I watched and 3 years later I became one of 20787 people since 1876 to play in the major leagues now to put that in perspective you could put us all in a Major League Stadium it wouldn't be half full and shortly after I made my debut on opening day in 2015 my dreams Came Crashing Down 2018 I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and I was put on lithium at that time I played my final year as a zombie I had played the game I was so enthusiastic about for all these years with so much passion and so much

energy and it was Zapped out of me so when I retired there was no big announcement no big celebration I just never came back never made a phone call to anybody it was almost like I never played Major League Baseball I used art as therapy art was my creative Outlet it allowed me to express myself I discovered art in 2016 when I got traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers at that time my my manager Dave Roberts brought me up to the front of the room in front of all these Legends and asked me what I like to do right before spring training I had taken an ex-girlfriend to a Paint and Sip class and I was so nervous in front of this whole team of clay Kershaw and Carl Crawford and Chase Utley I said paint never painted before just blurted it out Dave said great make a painting of my

wills and present it to the team by in spring training I said all right went to Walmart got my canvas my Walmart paint and spent the rest of spring training painting this canvas and I fell in love with art I took canvases on the road with me took them on the planes in the hotels I would stay all night painting so when I retired I knew I wanted to be an artist but there was a problem I knew nothing about art I knew nothing about how to monetize my art the process of getting my art out into the world of of of of selling art galleries knew nothing never been into a gallery and so one night I was frantically looking on the internet on how to make money selling art and my daughter was born a few months earlier in 2019 and I was in a bad spot I I had to provide for

a family now and so I came up on this website it was a green background with black font very very ugly website and it was talking about crypto art and in February of 2020 I released my first nft my first piece of crypto art I remember exactly where I was because it was the first time in my life I had found a way to monetize my work I needed no permission I needed not I didn't have to go to a gallery and be rejected I was trying to get my art in restaurants and they were saying no now I had a place with no nobody saying no you can't do this to release my work but I had another problem to be a successful artist I believe that you need successful monetarily you need a cohesive message a cohesive style that people recognize I had none of that one

day I'd be painting abstract the next I'd be painting Little Wayne few months later I heard a young boy ask can asut be black so instinctually I built a 4ot x 5ot canvas and began painting him as an astronaut I facetimed him and showed him and his reaction his smile his confidence that showed through his his his bright smile I realized this is this is my vocation this is what I'm on Earth to do is not baseball is a selfish purs pursuit to reach the major leagues I was put on this Earth to inspire others to chase their dreams to be delusional to be audacious and so I began creating these paintings of these kids in astronaut helmets and again using the blockchain to pair these these physical works with nfts and selling them they began they

begin to pick up traction I had solo exhibitions in Los Angeles I was selling work it was great I even created a work called sovereignty that was released in November of 2020 that at at that time was the most expensive digital artwork sold before be came along this work was even highlighted by on NBC News by Lester Hol this piece right here opens the door opens up every single year for 11 years until those boys are face to face with the astronaut symbolizing them achieving their dreams every year on August 6 and November 10th on their birthdays a QR code pops up and people can donate Bitcoin and on when they turn 18 they'll be given this wallet so I had been fell in love with the technology the ability

to create I fell in love with this Mission this message but I had another problem my work was now hanging on homes of rich people people that have achieved their dreams that never felt like there were limitations to their dreams that have built these worlds around their dreams I wanted to reach that broader audience an audience that could Inspire the Next Generation to be like me to dream Without Limits to be delusional so I created a character named Aku again I had no idea how to release IP into the world zero clue but I knew about the power of nft and the power of the community and as a Creator you never think about the audience you think about yourself this character I wanted to get out to the world if one person liked it if 10 people liked it if a million

people liked it it did not matter to me I felt like this character needed to get out into the world I created 10 chapters called 10 animated chapters Little V video been yet seeding his story digital comic books I did 10 and the original plan was to release him out several years this is before nfts became popular and I figured I needed time to build momentum energy around this character and in the first seven minutes of it being released it was validated the the community the world said this with their own hardened money that this character needed to be into the world so I set out on this journey never done this before never created a character never told a story never built anything never had a job I worked on a farm I can hit a fast ball but I had now was going into this

world I've never experienced had no knowledge of and since that time we've done amazing things been very blessed to be on the cover of Time Magazine sculptures Time Square Partnerships collaborations multi-book series with ping and random house and Partnerships with MLB it's an amazing journey and I don't tell you this my whole journey to so you guys can get to know me everybody in this room is a delusional dreamer audacious dreamer building things in in a in a sector in Industry that didn't exist when we were growing up and my only thing is I want to challenge everybody to continue to never give up on your dreams it took me 20 years of sacrifice friendships didn't go to the parties to reach a dream and the reality is whether I would have succeeded or

failed whether you succeed or failed is irrelevant because at the end of the day you're going to inspire people people are watching you you're going to inspire the Next Generation to feel like they can do anything they feel like their dreams are Limitless and that they can build worlds around their dreams thank you