226 Press
Philadelphia is a place for dream makers, those engaged in a different reality than the one we inhabit. David Lynch filmed all of Eraserhead there for a reason. A sense of utter oddity and disconnection from all the lands around it helps to give it this warped sensibility. Humor from Philadelphia is most notable in the It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia variety, outlasting any other city-based show by a significant margin. Portlandia never even came close to the same level of distaste that and general weirdness.
226 Press adds to that sense of time and place. The Press of a single person, one Chris William Purdom, with longevity that made me do a double take. It is rare for a press to go on as long as this one, especially on a website where there is no discernible way to financially support it. So, I am at a loss for what reason, other than purely artistic, might exist for this work. I appreciate the lack of clarity, too often things are explained fully. Mystery helps make the world a far more interesting and engaging place. With this work specifically, Chris runs the gamut from the old-school Flarf poetry to the newer poems. New is a relative term here, as the Flarf poems ranged from 2005 to 2014. Henceforth it becomes something entirely different.
Think about it – this is poetry within a vacuum. Upon discovering it and the endless materials, I am reminded strongly of those solo acts who keep going, devoid of external attention. Conlon Nancarrow’s obsession with the piano player comes to mind—one idea, executed for years with a minimum of attention. I assume, from what I can gather about this Chris fellow, that he most likely shares Conlon’s political sympathies for the downtrodden and the oppressed. I appreciate the quieter way he goes about doing precisely this.
I like the isolated artists. Those who do their thing their way, without any concern or need for external validation. 226 Press is a press exclusively for Chris, and has been for over two decades, which is mind-blowing. Artists who do their work with no concern about how it will be perceived are doubly fascinating, as that is the art most likely to last and gain recognition much later. Just look at Conlon and what happened when his mysterious ways were deciphered, well into his life. The same thing, I believe, will one day happen to Chris, when these pieces hit harder than they do now, when the audience finally catches up to him.
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