*Highlights and haze clouds of the Meme Maxis, week of 17 April 2023 — cover graphic excerpted from ape2616’s gallery snapshot of three ReMemes by KeroNFTs, batzdu, and rodritoh89, featuring the work of 6529er and Vince_Van_Dough.*

Season three of The Memes ignites to lift-off in a flurry of chemical reactions, powering the merriest of moon missions during the most memeable of calendar weeks. Ambassador to the stars, emissary of Earth Day, this 4/20 inscribes itself into the historic chronicle as a powder-keg moment: a time to launch initiatives, build for the future, and — for enjoyooors of poetry, in particular Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass — emerge from the hiatus of Awakening with a little Bakening.

deekaymotion hears correctly and heeds the call, greeting us all with presents at the top o’ the mornin’ (announcement) —

Through DeeKay’s behind-the-scenes videos (here’s a detailed breakdown of “Am I Dreaming?”) we see a master of craft make entire panoplies of skills look breezy, even effortless. GM Everyone witnesses his unmistakable aesthetic in full bloom, motion and emotion presented with clarity and heart.

Catch DeeKay’s works on SuperRare, elsewhere including socials, and even learn rigging for character animation with his tool script.

The ReMeme offices are abuzz with purpose this week, as ongoing projects pick up steam and new projects join the ruckus. Winner for the brightest, cheeriest, and most welcome declaration goes to Blouny_eth with “Seize the Coffee” (announcement) —

And now, a word from Davy Jones, courtesy Mememaster 6529er: this 1/1 “KRAKAMOTO” has just, as of this publication, gone live for a one-day auction (announcement) —

The 6529Complaints dept. resumes culling complaints carefully from all corners of the Memecube, and a doozy is card 16, “Madame Freude” by merisha_artist (announcement) —

mbstuart assembles an homage to punk6529, presumably en route to his coins in “6529 Sk8r” —

An arch-nemesis of The Memes by 6529 appears! Going by the moniker The Memes by 9256, their mission statement ought to raise a few tentacles. Yes, my head is also spinning, just as fast as yours, so allow me to share an example: card #1 entitled “Cease Production”, from this collaborative effort by mfer2355 and sertx92 (announcement) —

fmiasp offers us a glimpse into the crystal ball, of what’s going on with monsieur B. Fried, in his piece “FTT 2 Exit Strategy” (announcement) —

fmiasp’s recap from helming Global Digital Rights Charter efforts over the previous weeks is an informative summary as well.

Two official TheMeansCreator card drops this week, both on-theme and entirely appropriate for the circumstances. Here’s “Survive Mode”, the “you have one job!” of admonishments, jumping from “Staying Alive” by erubes1:

And “We the Artists”, adding context to the Freedom to Transact theme poignantly illustrated by oveck’s “We the Creators”:

A rare factory floor snapshot is publicized this week, also by TheMeansCreator, commemorated in “Seize the Memers of Production” (announcement) —

Speaking of memecubes, lifewithart_ gifts us a texture-shifting Gradient to guide the way:

gratusmasculus is thus on record with the 6529Gradientz interview series, having nonetheless changed tunes since early times. Read the whole story, illustrated with memes, gradients galore, and even apparel.

Meme Artist kartjust is also featured in a Gradients interview this week, in a thread replete with fascinating entry points into discussion of art and the vast potential for NFTs.

ryankoopmans has visited the GM factory (in this case Georgian Manganese) and smelted a stunner (announcement and story):

Introducing the first meme card to feature its own set of teaser trailers (in collaboration with the work of alicewexell) —

… as well as a prememe tribute poster by WintermuteGAN (OM Pub page by brookr) —

Ryan’s work can be found on SuperRare and elsewhere; his and Alice’s project titled “The Wild Within” is definitely worth exploration as well. He’s also featured in the latest issue of Blouny Mag.

CryptoClimates (a.k.a. Made by Megan) commandeers the rotation of the Earth itself, indeed the entire Coriolis Effect that swirls around us, to fashion a cozy riverside retreat in harmonious balance with nature, day and night (artist announcement, 6529Collections announcement) —

Megan also posts some behind-the-scenes draft artwork that went into this delightful piece. The entire CryptoClimates collection is filled with sumptuous detail, lovingly presented. Visit madebymegan.io for more art, and information about the project mission towards sustainable efforts, artist collaborators; curious folk can also stop by the CryptoClimates discord to explore and get involved.

Our roundup of Interesting Happenings this week kicks off with heartfelt warmth from Burnasso:

Ars0nic makes a debut on Escher, entitled “Too weird to live, too rare to die!” (artist announcement, platform announcement) —

• intrepid_p tells us in depth about the time he captured an image that holds a unique importance in atmospheric science books, called Steve

• punk6529 surveys the State of the Memes as we commence SZN3, a mere 10 months since project inception

• Zigmarillion impresses upon us the abundance of meaning he encountered when visiting Hafftka’s gallery, during NFT NYC

• priyankap_patel’s experiences during NFT NYC also exemplify the wonder of Maxis connecting through the mission, the Maxis, and seizerDAO

• speaking of Hafftka, he’s been an overflowing fountain of inspiration, wisdom, and actionable sound advice

• speaking of collecting art, punk6529 knows a thing or two (tl;dr version here)

• deekaymotion responds with the corollary for artists

• DocT___ lays out the case for AI art as a democratizing force

• JonnyPickles seizes

• adamamcbride highlights TikTok’s itsallreallyalot speaking about the absurdity of recent Pokémon card news (h/t Darlington)

• a photo of HugoFaz sunning with cc0 artwork (credit justnfttoronto)

• DarrenSRS showcases the Dutch Art Community’s exhibitions in Amsterdam and the Open Metaverse

• zakkisyed dials the abacus to discover there’ve been 141.96 million NFTs minted so far

• two exemplary OnCyber meme galleries to peruse: “undergroundmemes” by Johndoe8891 (announcement) — why, just look at that gradient floor plan!

• …and “seize” by mohammadalihd, an exceedingly practical living room layout in the latest “flooded” style

• Last, an oldie-goodie from November 2022, UNIC’s Q&A between punk6529 and artnome, illuminating a wealth of benefits to big-picture thinking in this zany, rapidly shifting cultural landscape.

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Happy meme-seizing and life-seizing to all ~