Week 44: Asger Carlsen

The rotating gallery features the work of an emerging photographer as well as an interview with him/her, and will change every Wednesday. The gallery is based off ‘collective curatorship’, where the photographer from week 1 chooses and interviews a photographer for week 2, week 2 chooses/interviews week 3, etc. There is only one stipulation to the process: Next weeks photographer has to be someone he/she has not had direct contact with yet. Ideally, this will take the gallery on a linked tour around the Internet, and exploring and unearthing new photographers as it goes.

This week, Vincent Skeltis interviews Asger Carlsen.

Vincent Skeltis: I think we met once, correct? Maybe had drinks after an S Magazine party?

After recently seeing your new “Wrong” series, I tried to recall that brief evening, hoping to remember if there were any signs of strangeness to you that I could attribute to someone who maybe would construct such a series of images, but I can’t recall anything that stood out as obviously weird or off about you.

Asger Carlsen:  Yes, I remember you. You where wearing black boots, black jeans, a wife beater and a red lumber jack shirt with tattooed arms sticking out. We had two gunnies with Patrick at the dive bar (Milady’s) on Spring St… We talked about money… after that I think we talked about blow jobs. The next day I was actually thinking, that Vincent is strange.

VS: What prompted you to begin making these pictures? They are bizarre, aren’t they?!

AC: I received a comment from from a woman online saying “its wrong and its sick.” Maybe she is right, I just have a strong need for entertaining myself and I really enjoy doing stuff like this. I find it interesting to confuse in context of visual matters and words. I like to confuse people. I think not understanding everything you see or hear is a bigger inspiration to people then they realize, and after a while, people will find relation to things they have seen before, or things that might be part of there own lives.

Maybe, I already said too much?

VS: I wanna know more about the initial conversation that started this project. My guess is you were sitting around getting shit-faced with your buddies and thought, “Hey guys, I wanna photograph frolicking legless children and two-headed fat people fucking giant blobs of snot while watching their dogs gnaw on fleshy bones!”? Am I close?

AC: No, not drunk. It came from looking in used medical books I got from a stand on Broadway.

VS: I’m a huge fan of technical ability, I love when it becomes a subtle force within images. Cutting right to the chase, how are they made, and how much time do you spend on the pre and post production end of these images?

AC: Most of pre-production is hand making materials and all the post-production is done by my friend Christian. I think computer manipulated images is a balance. For example, I don´t get impressed by perfect skin tones.

VS: What do you mean when you say “I think computer manipulated images is a balance?” Can you explain?

AC: I like the idea of using computers, but it can be used in many ways. Like real more then fake. Got it ?

VS: Is there a reason you’ve exclusively chosen to show these (or shoot these) in Black & White, opposed to color?

AC: I like the idea of destroying my own photography and not doing nice looking color photos. Black & White also adds to the idea of reality - or simply it looks better in b/w.

VS: Could I ask where you’re from? And where do you live, and how old are you?

AC: I’m from Copenhagen, Denmark, I live in Chinatown (NYC) and I’m 36 years old.

VS: Tell me about the title you’ve chosen for this project. Why “Wrong”?

AC: I like the sound of the word wrong - it always catches my eyes when I see it written down, but it’s just a name.

VS: Has the Wrong Series been completed, or are you still making pictures for it?

AC: It’s almost done, I have some ideas for pork meat that i need to play with.

VS: What are your plans for the series? Would you like to exhibit the work?

AC: It will be a book in January, published by Morel Books in London, and so far I have a sole show in Copenhagen.