FAS Publishing SE

In a world saturated by impressions and (mis)information, more or less interesting; we do not wish to add any more of that kind. Instead we ask questions that relate to visual, existential and conceptual issues. Observation and amplification of minimal or not so obvious course of events is often the starting point for the publisher's artists' books.

FAS Publishing SE is a small independent book publisher run by the artists Carl Johan Erikson and Karl Johan Stigmark, it was founded in 2000. At the beginning the main focus was on audio works, from 2017 the publisher started publishing artists´ books. Recurring media in FAS Publishing SE are photography, text, sound, artists´ books and performance.

Carl Johan Erikson, essay Natasha Marie Llorens, BAPTISTRY TANKS IN USA, FAS publishing SE, 2025, © Carl Johan Erikson, essay Natasha Marie Llorens

In BAPTISTRY TANKS IN USA Carl Johan Erikson continues his long-term artistic investigation of artifacts and phenomena in Charismatic Christian environments – now focusing on so called baptistry tanks used for adult baptism in the American Bible Belt. In the book we can follow the production at Piedmont Composites & Tooling in Taylorsville in North Carolina, one of the world’s largest producers of fiberglass baptistry tanks. Another part showing how baptistry tanks are installed in various types of churches, from megachurches in Texas to small chapels Alabama. The book also includes a personal essay by curator and writer Natasha Marie Llorens, who grew up in the American Bible Belt. Together, Erikson's images and Llorens' text create a complex and multifaceted picture of faith, culture, and politics—from both a personal and global perspective.

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Recurring motifs transform the subtle details of everyday life into artistic events in Karl-Johan Stigmark’s work. In Droppar, linjer, ord (Drops, Lines, Words), Stigmark explores the immediacy of existence. Drops that reflect the fleeting passage of time, lines that represent the movements of life, and words that appear both within and beyond the image. With a distinctive visual language, Stigmark captures small, often overlooked occurrences and transforms them into artworks that invite reflection without losing the perceptual presence of everyday language.
A particular parallel can be drawn to Prince Rupert’s drops, a phenomenon in which molten glass beads are rapidly cooled in water. These drops are paradoxically extremely strong yet fragile — they cannot be shattered by a blow, but if the tail is broken, they explode. In a similar way, Drops, Lines, Words reflects on how small, seemingly fragile events in everyday life can carry an inner strength and complexity, and how this tension between strength and fragility mirrors human existence. Stigmark’s photographs are not only visual works, but also philosophical invitations to reflection.
Drops, Lines, Words extends beyond the immediate expression of the image and invites the viewer to pause, see, and feel. The book offers a contemplative experience in which the thin line between art and everyday life is blurred, and where what at first may seem like a simple drop or line is transformed into a tool and a map for exploring life’s hidden pathways to meaning.

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