Gen Society was founded by Lorin Drexler as a platform dedicated to ekphrastic practice, the use of visual art as a literary device. What began as a personal discipline evolved into a curated space where image and language are placed in deliberate poetic exchange.
The foundation of the project traces back to Drexler’s undergraduate studies at Columbia College Chicago, where an ekphrastic poem written in response to Pablo Picasso’s The Old Guitarist established the framework that would later define Gen Society: sustained engagement between visual form and poetic structure. Over time, this practice expanded into a platform featuring visual artists across mediums, from painters and illustrators to designers and contemporary practitioners. More recently, though not exclusively, Gen Society has engaged with artists working in trading card games such as Magic: The Gathering and related formats. While unconventional in context, these works carry narrative depth and technical precision equal to traditional gallery spaces, and are approached with the same level of artistic consideration.
Each feature pairs selected artwork with original poetry written in direct response, not as explanation, but as an extension of the work itself.
Gen Society has since developed into a small literary press built around a seasonal Poet Residency. Through an open submission process, one poet is selected each quarter to publish a body of work over a three-month period. The residency provides structured visibility, documented publishing credits, and sustained presentation, shifting away from isolated publication toward continuity and professional footing.
At the conclusion of each cycle, the press compiles the work of its four seasonal Poet Residents into an annual anthology, bringing together Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall into a single collected volume. Each edition serves as a structured record of a full residency year: four poets, twenty-four poems, one archive.
Alongside the residency, Gen Society publishes Genesis Journals, a quarterly publication documenting each season’s resident, featured artists, and related projects. The journal functions as a curated archive of the platform’s evolving dialogue between image and language.
Click the image below to visit Gen Society and learn more:
Background Design // Robert Paternoster
Here are a handful of artists who have collaborated with Gen Society in the past:
Gen Society is an independent literary and visual arts platform founded by poet and musician Lorin Drexler. Originally conceived as a space for ekphrastic practice — poetry written in direct response to visual art — it has developed into a curated online gallery and small press dedicated to sustained dialogue between image and language.
The platform features contemporary and historical artists across mediums, including painters, illustrators, and trading card game artists discovered through titles such as Magic: The Gathering. Each feature pairs selected artwork with original poetry, forming a deliberate exchange rather than commentary.
Gen Society now operates as a seasonal small press, hosting a quarterly Poet Residency and publishing Genesis Journals, its archival record of each residency term. Poets seeking consideration may submit their work using the button below:
