It has been discovered that Heath Ledger's family inspired Johnny Depp to make a donation to the Perth Children's Hospital Foundation.
Depp pledged $1.17 million to a number of international charities and sent the money from the sale of a painting of Ledger that was part of his Never Fear Truth art collection.
Depp’s creation of his close friend Ledger was sold in the form of non-fungible tokens — one-of-a-kind, verifiable digital assets traded using blockchain technology.
PCHF chief executive Carrick Robinson said Ledger’s family, which hails from Perth, had nominated the Foundation as the recipient of money made from the NFT.
“We welcome this contribution to help the Foundation improve the lives of WA’s sick kids and it’s great to see the legacy of Heath Ledger continuing to make an impact on the WA Community,” Mr Robinson said.
Depp donated $1.17 million to a number of organizations, including The Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, The Footprint Coalition, and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.
Depp declared in January that he was joining the rapidly expanding non-fungible token craze.
The Hollywood celebrity announced that he would issue over 10,000 different, non-fungible tokens inspired by his paintings of friends and heroes.
He, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Hunter S. Thompson, his daughter Lily-Rose Depp, Tim Burton, Johnny's late dog Mooh, and an imaginary character called Bunnyman that his son made up are all depicted in the artwork.
“I’ve always used art to express my feelings and to reflect on those who matter most to me, like my family, friends and people I admire,” Depp said at the time.
“My paintings surround my life, but I kept them to myself and limited myself. No one should ever limit themselves.”
Never Fear Truth is referred to as the "first public presentation of Johnny's art," highlighting the actor's "friends and idols," with the website adding: "People he has known well, and who have inspired him as a person. Each picture is a personal depiction of how they appear to Johnny; it shows how they have come across to him.
Lily-face Rose's is covered in a variety of phrases that read, "Silence." He has chosen hundreds of different animated photos of his daughter. Exile. Another one reads, "Words grow feeble," a paraphrasing from the book A Portrait of the Artist and Johnny, and he also has the three words tattooed on his wrist.
The NFTs Johnny Depp created
According to Johnny Depp's website, he hopes to build an artistic community of friends and admirers through ownership on the Ethereum blockchain. He is offering for sale Johnny's animated portraits of friends, heroes, and family members, which are genuinely one-of-a-kind pieces of generative art.
It describes the community as a place for fans and friends to come together and collaborate on creative projects.
The community on Discord will offer an intimate environment for Johnny to express his creativity through; and provide you access to unique works, experiences and future projects in art, music and film.