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The largest work in the show, "The Gallery Watches the Gallery" (153–23–17), is a panoramic mural done in sanguine and sepia. It depicts this very gallery. In the mural, a crowd of faceless patrons stands before a drawing of Droo-Cynthia. But inside that drawing, a smaller Droo-Cynthia stands before a mirror. And inside the mirror, a tiny Tocker points at the viewer.

He gestured toward the first piece.

Before leaving, I was required to pass through the repository. Here, one may purchase facsimiles of the drawings, but only on paper so thin that it tears if handled without cotton gloves. Also for sale: small wooden paddles engraved with Droo-Cynthia’s aphorisms. The bestseller reads, "The body is not a document. But it can be annotated." Droo-cynthia-visits-the-spankers-drawings-gallery-153-23

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For the uninitiated, the Spankers’ Drawings Gallery exists in a liminal pocket of the city—partway between a Victorian conservatory and a defunct server farm. Its current exhibition, numbered 153–23 (the “23” denotes the twenty-third iteration of their “Persistence of Discipline” cycle), features the enigmatic patron and frequent subject Droo-Cynthia. I attended a private viewing. I left with more questions than answers, and a peculiar urge to sit on a pillow. The largest work in the show, "The Gallery

Exhibition 153–23 closes at the next full moon, or when Droo-Cynthia decides she has been seen enough—whichever comes first. It is not a show for the faint of nerve or the rigid of morality. It asks: What is the difference between discipline and devotion? Between a drawing and a bruise? Between a visitor and a voyeur? But inside that drawing, a smaller Droo-Cynthia stands