Beauty
As it has become commonplace not to put on one’s face, not to say, that is to say, what it is one is aesthetically attempting, the Press would otherwise insist. Beauty lies in the act of rendering fact to artifact; it is as instinctive as murder, and as inevitable. The best known trench art dates from World War I, when silversmiths in the trenches scavenged mortar shells and rifle bullets and warmed and wrought them into grand vases and radiant cruciform, as regular Smiths tapped out matchbook covers in scrap tin. Beauty is unfathomable, and artists must dive straightaway in, leading with the chin, and, as a matter of salvation, be able to pat the belly and rub the head while pointing at a patch of blue and red and pronouncing it delicious. To this end, submissions to the Press must be accompanied by a page setting forth the principles of your aesthetic in lieu of the usual list of other publications — we are less concerned with where you’ve been printed than what imprints you.
Submission Guidelines
Les Figues is no longer accepting ongoing open submissions. Instead, we will have select reading periods to be announced on the website, through the Les Figues Blog and via the Les Figues email newsletter.
Les Figues Press invites your manuscript submission to the TrenchArt series, as long as it comes with your own sense of dominance: in other words, submit away, but include with the submission a brief sketch of your aesthetic. It ought be incumbent on the artist to state the way in which the work ought be met, to put the cards on the table and castle the air. Let the chalk-fingered come along and prick and poke with their coarse woolen mittens and coward’s latex gloves — you must dare to be naive.
Submissions should be novella-size in length.
Submissions are read during select reading periods, to be announced.
Submissions should include a self-addressed stamped envelope and a (minimum) one-page aesthetic statement, though fully-developed essays are preferred.
Submissions should be mailed to:
Les Figues Press
Vanessa Place
Post Office Box 7736
Los Angeles, CA 90007