21 Feb. 2022
[As a “soundtrack” recommendation, I would suggest putting on “Slowdive” by Siouxsie & The Banshees (from the album A Kiss in the Dreamhouse) for the proper mood while reading this first section of this post!]
I was just looking through my NFT Showroom gallery, the place where all of my unsold cryptoart from the HIVE chain resides, and I was very pleased. Commercially speaking, having all of that weird art just sitting there seems like business suicide, like having a huge warehouse full of obscure records that nobody wants to buy, BUT this analogy only holds if the only purpose for the backstock is sales. What if ANOTHER purpose is to collect and display my weirdo gestures, my fleeting moods, my nonsense??? THEN this seems like an incredibly successful platform!
My oldest un-acquired piece still up on NFT Showroom is called “Holy Fool Astral Projecting” and it was published to the site on July 19th, 2020. That’s a year and a half ago! (In “internet time,” that’s like two Ice Ages ago!)
The funny thing about that uncollected piece is that I really like it! It has this weird, ghostly shadow coming up from the goofy character’s face (made using multiple transparent layers, changing the colors of the activated pixels, and then just sliding the one layer up a bit), and it COULD be considered a bit spooky, if you’re into that. Maybe that piece will never sell… But so what? I still enjoy the image. I like the fact that a transaction exists documenting the fact that I published that piece a day after my 48th birthday, (I didn’t REMEMBER that fact, so the documentation is cool), and somebody, somewhere might see that image, someday, and get a little chill or a laugh, and that’s neat! Because it’s all blockchain and IPFS backed, there’s a good chance the image – the entire collection! – will be around for a while. (The first gallery that accepted my artwork was in Olympia, Washington, and the artwork I had was only shown for about a year before the gallery closed… Maybe it was two years; I can’t recall for sure, but regardless of the actual time-frame, it was limited, where this digital gallery has already matched the existence length of the amount of time my work was viewable (to the limited few who lived in or visited Olympia, Washington) in the PHYSICAL WORLD.)
Plus!!! And this is something not possible in the world of atomic structures, people who are looking at NFT Showroom can click a button and see ALL of the artwork I’ve published there, including the works that have been purchased by other people. In Olympia, if someone bought one of my paintings (and believe it or not, a few DID sell), they would take the painting home with them, and it would be GONE, GONE, GONE. Nobody else could see it, unless they were invited to see it by the new owner. In the digital universe, with the click of a button, folks are able to see EVERYTHING I've published through this site, the entire catalog of HOLY FOOL artz… (Minus a couple that I burned for one reason or another…mostly another… I don’t mess with that first reason very often…)
So… I’ve seen several videos lately, which have received a lot of attention online, that disparage NFTs and digital collectibles as just a means of justifying cryptocurrency. The full and complete point of these “take-down” videos is to demonstrate how crypto is bad, is a Ponzi scheme, and to show how the only VALUE that cryptoart has is in scamming people out of money by convincing them to buy “ART” from YOU for more than YOU paid for the art. The last person holding the piece (the HOT POTATO) loses… But I’m holding a TON of hot potato art at the moment (mine and other people’s), and I don’t feel like I’m losing. The VALUE is partially in the economic prospects, but my creations are NOT just “money.” I’m expressing something - and having a platform (a less expensive platform than building my own physical gallery) is very cool, to me, personally. I love to create, especially nonsensical ephemera, stuff that would be throw-away garbage to most people, UNFINE ART, and I take that “junk” and make it SOMETHING ELSE by tokenizing it. Now, it’s not JUST a toilet; it’s ART (and a toilet.) It’s an EXPERIENCE – for those folks who choose to view it as such…
It's more than just a dollar value…… It’s also a toilet!
The value is in the sharing, the documenting, AND the very gesture of tokenizing! So I'm gonna keep at it!
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Faint Skull"
[Digital drawing created on my phone.] Now that Christmas and Valentine's Day are over, we can get back to celebrating a REAL holiday again, HALLOWEEN! I'm really uncomfortable for those four months when Halloween isn't the focus, but it does make the other eight months of SPOOKINESS that much more special!
https://objkt.com/asset/KT1ABGYuE84UQNDJdWtMEhiBi6yhsfTQ7W56/222
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Critters on Parade"
[Digital drawing over photo of the floor at a restaurant.] When all the monsters come out at once... (Well... three of them, anyway.)
P.S. - It's a short parade...but still...
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"The Dimensions Extended (With Ghost)"
[Digital drawing over an older digital artwork.] This is a recycled work in many articulations of the concept. The ghost is a recycled spirit, the background is an old artwork created on a piece of recycled cardboard, and the idea behind the art (drawing ghosts and snakes) are concepts that I've used hundreds (thousands?) of times in older works. Perhaps, in all of the layers, some TRUTH will eventually be revealed. (Or perhaps not!)
https://objkt.com/asset/KT1ABGYuE84UQNDJdWtMEhiBi6yhsfTQ7W56/223
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Flaminko"
[Brush pen and liner pen on paper with digital embellishments and color.] Yeah, he's pink! What of it!? Stanley Flaminko just wants to enjoy his life and be left alone!
https://rarible.com/token/tezos/KT1R5aP81ytNJDjPhz99t48YCosNfhS7J4Q7:10
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Interpretations"
[Digital drawing created with my phone.] Semi-abstract symbols, signs, weirdness, and EYES! But with a nice, calming color pallet! Just enjoy the esotericism...
https://rarible.com/token/tezos/KT1R5aP81ytNJDjPhz99t48YCosNfhS7J4Q7:11
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Megalithic Bird"
[Ballpoint pen on notebook page with digital embellishments and color.] A giant monster bird released from a glacier by global warming. The world has moved on since he was last awake, so he realizes that he needs to retrain, and he starts taking night classes and gets an MS in computer programming. Now, only three years later, he's buying his own home and on the market for a nest-mate to share it with!!!
https://objkt.com/asset/KT1ABGYuE84UQNDJdWtMEhiBi6yhsfTQ7W56/224
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Field of Vision Test" by RFY & FEH
[Felt pen, crayon, colored pencil, and ballpoint pen on reclaimed cardboard with digital embellishments and color.] 93 percent of the population can't see the various ghosts in this image! (For instance, my granddaughter seemed to see a lot more spooks in this drawing than I did!) I'm still happy with the finished project, though! ---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool) & Felicity Echo Hanson (Toddler Terror)
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Shocking Vision" by Richard F. Yates (HF) & Felicity Echo Hanson (TT)
[Felt pen, colored pencil, and crayon on reclaimed cardboard with digital embellishments and color.] The granddaughter and I created this expression of EXPLORING THE VOID. Sometimes, those who are in the wilderness are confronted by horrors beyond expression (like the first person who wandered into Las Vegas - R.I.P. Col. Elwood Gribbs, who went insane on the Strip and accidentally walked into the line of fire at Treasure Island...) Sometimes the VOID stares back! (Or so they say....) ---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool) & Felicity Echo Hanson (Toddler Terror)
https://objkt.com/asset/KT1ABGYuE84UQNDJdWtMEhiBi6yhsfTQ7W56/225
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Preppy Gator"
[Felt pen on reclaimed cardboard with digital embellishments and color.] He's been through prep school, had his parents pay for a solid degree in Poli-Sci, got his golf handicap down to a comfortable level, and is ready to bribe his way into the high fashion world of politics... Good luck, Greg! Make a million!
https://objkt.com/asset/KT1ABGYuE84UQNDJdWtMEhiBi6yhsfTQ7W56/226
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
That’s enough horror for today! Thanks for stopping by!!!
---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool)