“New Crypto-Art (Which Will Make the World a Better Place)” by Richard F. Yates

My goodness! It’s that time once again, boys and girls, when the EARTH receives a new thing (or two---or, in this case, three.) It might not be a BIG thing or an important thing or the kind of thing that’s going to fundamentally alter the entire planet---but hopefully it’s (at least slightly) an interesting thing, a QUIRKY think, a thing that makes a couple of people laugh. The point of all of this is the LAUGHS!

So, with all that LEGAL b.s. out of the way, let’s go over the nuts-and-bolts. I’ve uploaded three new pieces of CRYPTO-ART to MakersPlace, and those fantastic folks (@makersplace) have tokenized them (using some form of computo-magic) on the Ethereum blockchain. Each of these works is being released in an addition of ONE (and only one), so they are first come, first served---and once they are GONE, they ain’t coming back. To visit these pieces (along with all my other crypto-art bits and bobs) you can go to my MakersPlace store. I’ve got all kinds of weird things there to gawk at---like at a good, old-fashioned Freak Show or Oddity Emporium! Come on down and have a gander at the creepiest feats of digital-art-daring this side of Chattanooga! Those with weak constitutions should best wait outside the tent!

Are you brave enough to try my wares??? Then scroll on down!

Here are my three most recent works along with the written “explanations.” (I apologize for the fact that the explanations are not particularly explanatory…)

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“Seeking Wisdom in Strange Places”

"Ink on reclaimed cardboard with digital embellishments and colors," said the monster with two heads and four wings. Nobody knew quite why he'd said that.

The Sky Snake stuck her head out of the clouds to look one of the two headed monster's heads directly in the eye, and then hissed (with delight or derangement, we can't be certain...)

"I wonder what it tastes like," said Herko, the creature whose mouth was bigger than his brain, while looking directly at the zombie-man in the hat.

The Sun just squinted down (or over---it's hard to tell) at them all but refused to speak. (Maybe he had nothing to say, or---perhaps---he was just being polite. If you can't say nuthin' nice...)

The Totem-Cliff's various mouths were all talking at once, unintelligibly, and the flowers whispered to each other in quiet, little flowery voices, but the zombie-man couldn't tell what any of them were saying. (The flowers were laughing a bit too much, though, so he knew, whatever they were discussing, it wasn't good. "Conspiratorial" would be one adjective that would accurately describe their tone...)

"The next time I try to reach enlightenment on the top of a mountain," Orion, the half-zombie, thought to himself as he adjusted his hat, "I'll try to find a less crowded one."

"A moment of wisdom," the Sun thought back into Orion's head. "You're learning. Solitude is best experienced alone..." Orion looked (almost) directly at the Sun. It winked.

The flowers laughed a bit more---but Orion didn't know if they were laughing at the Sun's joke or something that they had said to one another. Regardless, he felt his time on the mountain had been educational.... Now if he could just survive the descent...

---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool---and perpetual hat wearer)

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“It’s a Cookbook!”

[This is what’s written ON the artwork itself]:
Back in the glory days of alien encounters, the “visitors” usually had a positive message of a coming Golden Age on Earth...if humans just behaved themselves. At some point, however, the message changed, and aliens became more sinister and “probe-y.” Maybe, if we’d just listened to what the Klaatu’s and the Orfeo Angeluccis’s were trying to tell us, we’d be living in SPLENDOR right now… I wonder if anyone still has Gort’s phone number. We’ll be good this time!!!

[This is what I wrote for the explanation for the piece on MakersPlace]:
I've been listening to the MonsterTalk podcast again, and a recent two-part episode on "The Shaver Mysteries" (which is some bat-shit crazy stuff) has reminded me of how much the concept of aliens has changed in the last hundred years or so.

At the turn of the century, you had H.G. Wells and Lovecraft giving us monstrous, bestial, entirely inhuman space creatures, who saw humans as little more than insects to be destroyed. Then, by the early 1950s, you had folks like Orfeo Angelucci, who claimed that he had been contacted by space beings who were trying to HELP humanity reach a new level of civility and prosperity. (Interestingly, Angelucci was "contacted" by his aliens about a year after Klaatu appeared on the big screen---in the 1951 film, The Day the Earth Stood Still---and delivered a similar message of hope for mankind---if we'd behave ourselves.)

Then, about a decade later, you had Betty and Barney Hill, who took alien encounters in a much more frightening direction, with the whole abduction, probing, and medical experimentation nastiness---which was much more sensational (and exciting) than vaguely human folks saying "be nice," and which lead to things like Whitley Strieber's Communion and John Keel's Mothman Prophesies. Scary stuff...

But I like the '50's stories---and the '50's special effects---much better than the modern equivalents. Long live Gort!!! My crypto-art piece is a throw-back to the days when aliens were less human, less probe-happy and maybe had some good advice on how humans could be nicer and make the world a better place...

---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool---who was contacted by a Winged Serpent, probably extraterrestrial, who told him to make people laugh, which will eventually save the world...)

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“The Gloom”

The Crystal Palace has existed for thousands of years, longer than even Old Weird William can remember, and that dude is OLD! The palace is a place of beauty, of contemplation, of mediation...but it's been invaded recently...

Invaded by THE GLOOM...

We (the current custodians of the palace) are hoping that it's just some kind of MOLD---and if we find the right mixture of bleach and lemon scented spray cleaner, we'll be able to get rid of it... But Zebulon the Fairly Intellectual believes that THE GLOOM is a psychic infection that is attacking the very structure of The Crystal Palace. We're hoping to hear what Zebulon's much smarter cousin, Terence the Extremely Clever, thinks about this situation, but he's vacationing at Disney World until the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the gift shop outside the palace is still open, but the usually tours of the Hall of Loveliness and Smilitude is closed to casual visitors, until THE GLOOM can be removed (or, at the very least, repainted.) Keep checking the website for updates, and thanks for continuing to support Crystal Palace Tours, Inc.!

[P.S. - This image is a digital drawing, if you couldn't tell from looking at it. It may or may not be a visual representation of my own mental state. Probably not, though. Forget I mentioned it... ---RFY]

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And that was today’s TRIPLE DRIVE-IN FEATURE! Hopefully, you had enough popcorn to make it to the end, and you didn’t get your tires slashed while you were snuggling in the backseat during the second movie. Again, if you were intrigued (or disgusted) by what you witnessed here and you’d like to see more (or want further evidence for that “Indecency Claim” you’re writing against me), visit my MakersPlace store. There’s a lot more where these came from! Thanks for stopping by!!!

---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT FOLKS WHO ARE JUST MAKING STUFF BECAUSE THEY LOVE IT!!!

https://steemit.com/@richardfyates
https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com/read-a-damn-book-list/
https://makersplace.com/store/richardyates/