Normally when we say photography capturing the female nude fails to represent real women, we're talking about body image, not that a figure has one breast and two vaginas. Yet Asger Carlsen's surreal nude forms take the naked body on a warped adventure of melting flesh, twisted limbs and truncated genitalia. We're not quite sure if they qualify as not suitable for work, but the disturbing images certainly aren't suitable for right before bedtime.
Carlsen worked as a crime photographer before developing his artsier side, an experience the photographer said gave him "a hint of reality" in an interview with Opening Ceremony blog. It is this startling mixture of reality and surrealism that makes Carlsen's works so jarring, as the unassuming snapshot aesthetic merges with forms so unrecognizable they could puzzle the likes of Francis Bacon and Man Ray.
His collection, named "Hester" (after the artist's street in Chinatown), combines multiple models into a single mutant form. Carlsen explained the process to VICE: "I'm taking many different pictures of many different women from many different angles. Then I merge it all together into one constructed image. Each image is composed of four to five different bodies. The only foundation is the background and the light."
Take a look at Carlsen's warped nudes below and let us know if you find them stunning, creepy or both. For more surreal nudes, check out Steven Laxton and Nadav Kander.