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Anthony Rondinone // the unknown faces in the hall

by Lorin Drexler · Aug 25, 2020

Anthony Rondinone – Featured Artist

the unknown faces in the hall

it could’ve been someone i knew
though i can’t be sure
from those states of creative origination where 
elemental energy processes matter
and the first thoughts of this newly forming thing
are smeared and smudged in the disfigurement 
of periphery
 
each face i compose runs through
me with macabre sincerity 
textures emotionalized from the underworlds of fame 
exemplifying 
     —the great lie—
which makes some unique and others not
 
the genome remonstrated:
we are not at all rare and 
this realization is okay
to think much the same
these thoughts
a tree looks like a tree looks like a tree looks like
a slight manufacture refinishing itself by
     —the great truth—
deducting thought for others to think 
much the same
 
this process
so distorted
so unique
so temporarily human
as if the determination of a species
for just a brief moment
could be more than a blink in the spectrum
of what makes time
time and life
life
 
i could very well be this omniscient face
i do not recognize
like a jesus rumor spreading like fleas 
going under radar 
pretending to love all things and people and faces
but who could really know
that could just be some shallow suggestion
some ghastly assumption
we tell ourselves
to imagine something greater
from the harsh fabrics of nature
 
the true belief goes as stated:
the faces are pyramids 
like a tree blooming or 
a gust of wind ignited
(is that me talking
thinking
it is 
wait 
no)
these demands pike through me
this matrix perils
whispering inside me
built on the
idea that the natural world
(if such a singular thing could exist)
is now consumed by itself
and what appears unnatural
exists arbitrarily under the 
same temporal rule
 
this microbe
this single-celled organism
that evolved three billion years 
ago when nature
was still understanding itself
swimming like ejaculates
struggling for survival
maybe just one
but probably not
probably never
and here 
compilations and clones
reproducing and fucking
and building on itself like skyscrapers
until nothing is recognized 
then fucking again until 
it’s all fucked out and there’s nothing left
but a hollow shell
 
how pure
each face that runs through me
each thought
so macabre
so distorted
so unique
each of the billion faces that run through 
are in fact…
me

each microbe twitching
each thought stroked
bouncing off each other 
like bindlestiffs searching for their purpose
their own remarkable purpose
within a dream
within a dream
within a dream
 
by LORIN DREXLER

Anthony Rondinone

https://www.anthonyrondinone.com

Anthony is an artist born and raised in the Bronx. 

Anthony works with multiple different mediums two of the main ones being Oil and Ink.


What is Gen Society?

Gen Society is an art space blog for visual art and creative writing collaborations, and other randomizations. Hosted by writer and musician, Lorin Drexler, this online venue is an expressive experience for those interested in the world of the arts. It is a literary journey through the hearts and minds of contemporary artists in practice and a reflection of those that have long passed.

If you’re an artist and would like to submit your work in consideration to collaborate with Gen Society, please click below:

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