Friday, October 29, 2021

Féros, #4, 2019, France, ed. 500


Féros is one of the very few contemporary erotic accordions that I have come across, so I tip my hat to the editors Florence Andoka and Clement Gagliano for its run of 5 yearly issues between 2015-2020, and in particular this cool special accordion issue. The accordion comes separately from the sharp silver cover that encloses it, and it also comes with two inserts, with the slide on the front cover revealing a vulva, and there's a photographic print of an uncircumcised penis further inside the issue. Accompanying the publication is a folded brochure with images of each artists' work and their name, as well as a small card with an editorial for issue #4 (illustrated below).

Here is a description of the magazine from their distributor's website, les presses du réel, in Dijon, France:

"Féros is an erotic magazine. Sometimes sensual, sometimes sexual, Féros calls to senses to awaken. Contemporary by definition, it explores with an obsessive eye aesthetic and contemporary fascinations for instinct in human nature. Its publication imposes the need to reveal the principles at stake in a contemporary vision of Eros, which is constantly seeking for and redefining itself, without interference. Féros only includes visual arts, symbolic projects. Polyphonic and composite, Féros puts yearly its focus on a specific theme. In each issue, pieces of arts and literature intertwine, interact freely and in a harmonized dialogue. Wild and rare beauty: Féros.

Published between 2015 and 2020, Féros was a hybrid form, intertwining artist book, magazine and bibliophilic book. It tends to give clues on contemporary sexualities and erotic practices through an aesthetic prism and from a contemporary art point of view. It explores the boundaries and links between erotica and pornography, sexuality and sensuality, as much as the distinctions between desired and desiring entities. Leaving the door open on purpose, Féros does not pretend to give a sociological answer or a single way to go on the subject, but rather draws a panoramic view, via a specific curating on the edition of each issue, of nowadays practices and representation types of Eros. The final objects thus takes the form of an exhibition, built through pages that viewers may touch and turn, a physical space including its own restriction and advantages, artistic as well as aesthetic. Both visual and tactile experiment, the artworks, printed on the peculiar skin that is paper, are driven together, can apprehend each other and can freely dialogue over the pages."

22 double-sided pages, individual pages 9.5" x 6.75", and when fully opened 12' 4.5".





reverse side



editorial statement for this issue #4


back cover with list of contributor's names


Lauren Emeritz, Hand Carved Alphabet, Abstract Orange Press, Washington DC, 2016, ed. 300


A cute miniature alphabet book hand carved from wood. Emeritz is a book artist, letterpress printer and graphic artist who founded and runs the Abstract Orange Press. She creates prints and books by hand using a Vandercook press and wood type, including type she designs and carves herself. [The Kelmscott Bookshop].

28 single-sided pages, individual pages 2" x 1.5", and when fully open 3' 6".



end pages


Franz Dasbourg, Melusina, Redfoxpress, Ireland, 2020, ed. 70


Another smart screen-printed accordion from Redfoxpress. This work by the artist, sculptor and painter who is based in Luxembourg, revolves around the European folkloric figure of Melusina, who was a female spirit of fresh water or water nymph, who is usually depicted as a serpent, fish or mermaid. 

There are many tales attached to her and the following one is related to a statue of her near Alzette in Luxembourg, and it relates to her insistence to her various husbands that she needed one day a week for absolute privacy and she made them swear to honor this request. Of course they were unable to keep this promise and one husband "could not resist temptation, and on one of the forbidden days he spied on her in her bath and discovered her to be a mermaid. When he let out a surprised cry, Melusina caught sight of him, and her bath immediately sank into the solid rock, carrying here with it. Melusina surfaces briefly every seven years as a beautiful woman or as a serpent, holding a small golden key in her mouth. Whoever takes the key from her will set her free and may claim her as his bride." In 1997 Luxembourg issued a stamp commemorating her. [wikipedia]

8 double-sided pages, individual pages 6.25" x 4", and when opened up 2' 8".



front side

reverse