[CAMERA CLICKING]
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ASGER CARLSEN: I guess I was drawn to all the experiences
you can get out of photography.
And there's a certain loneliness in being a
photographer that I liked, also.
Like you're just on your own, finding the images.
And you meet all these people.
You basically meet any kind of level of society when you do
photography.
It's just you and the camera, most of the time.
But a lot of the times, it's a feeling almost like a glimpse
of an image.
The work is very much about a feeling that I have.
I always spend a lot of time over-editing work.
Almost like a sense where I wouldn't accept the photograph
just to be a photograph.
I want it to be something else, or I want it to sort of
escape its originalness.
Like a photo session can be anything from 20 minutes to an
hour, and that 20 minutes to an hour can turn into two
years of work.
It's a material that I need to get in my computer, and I
basically don't care how that's happening.
For me, the creativity is happening in the
post-production, or forming the image afterward.
This is a picture from one of my first works, called Raw.
Basically, this is the area I sort of altered, and it's a
balance between keeping the reality and then
changing the image.
I started as a newspaper photographer when I was 16.
In a way, it taught me how to set up an image and then make
it look like it's a real event.
This is my computer station.
And this is where I do all my post-production.
And basically, where you guys are standing is where I
photograph.
This is a piece of clay that I worked on.
I just basically went out, I got a piece of clay, and I
scratched it up a little bit, and it dried.
And then I photographed this bald guy that I know.
It's a mix between the clay and him.
I think the work I'm doing now is like being a lazy
photographer, because I'm not really interested in going out
and interacting with reality.
I just want everything to happen here in my office.
This is my piece of clay.
I love it.
It's all photographed here.
This is it.
That's the piece.
I think this is my third time in the photo issue.
I think the Vice photo issue is great, because there's
always nice photography in it.
It's amazing how many good artists you can
draw to that issue.
I had a meeting with Christian, the photo editor,
and I think basically they asked me what I wanted to do
for the Vice photo issue.
I said I would like to do a
collaboration with Roger Ballen.
He's one of my favorites.
And I always admired him, so I was super pleased when he
agreed to do the collaboration.
And so the process was that I photographed images that I
worked on, that I manipulated, and I sent them to him.
And he did drawings, like cut-outs.
This was what I sent to Africa.
This was what came in return.
As an artist, you're so isolated.
If you can find someone you look up to or trust in an
artistic way, something amazing can happen.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ASGER CARLSEN: I was always fascinated by America.
But the way I moved here, I was, like, I was given a work
permit and I moved here, and I had no clue how long I wanted
to be here for.
And now it's been six years.
I live in Chinatown, New York.
The things that's going on in Chinatown that I don't
understand.
And I still don't understand.
I've been here for four years.
I don't understand the gestures.
I don't understand the language.
There's something appealing about being put in this state
of mind where you don't understand
it, because it can--
for me, at least, it can open up new ways
of thinking, almost.
I guess this maybe relates to the work I do.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ASGER CARLSEN: I use different models in a piece, in the
sense that I have someone who's really flexible, and
then I have other ones who has really
good, nice skin texture.
Today I'm going to have a model come in and we're going
to do a photo shoot.
She's basically just going to come in and do some posing,
and then I'm going to photograph.
And I don't really know what's going to come out of it.
I have sort of an idea.
It's going to be related to this.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ASGER CARLSEN: Come in.
This is the area I'm going to photograph you in.
So I'm just going to tell you possible ideas for poses.
I mean, a lot of times, like, these kind of
things works, you know?
In that process, I just photograph everything I see.
It's not like a normal photo session, I would say.
Because I'm not there to photograph their
face, first of all.
I'm just there to photograph their flexibility.
Oh, very good.
I like this.
[CAMERA CLICKS]
ASGER CARLSEN: All right.
I would say, without sounding too arrogant, I'm maybe the
only one who sort of knows what's going to happen with
the material afterwards.
OK.
I think that's it for today.
Now I'm going to shoot some plates for the piece, and it's
going to be my own arm.
Because it's a really good arm.
I have beautiful veins.
I mean, it could be anyone shooting these images and just
giving them to me, and I could just work with them.
The creativity is happening in the post-production.
That's where I initially become critical about the
forms and shapes.
-So I'm just getting your arm, right?
ASGER CARLSEN: You're just getting the arm.
And I'm interested in this stuff going on here.
[CAMERA CLICKS]
ASGER CARLSEN: Do I have favorite images?
I happen to have them here.
Very convenient.
I sort of like, more and more, the ones that doesn't have any
reference to the human body.
You have to think organically.
You can't just take, photograph something.
Like this part, I can't flip over to this side.
It needs to be consistent with the light.
This part up here is something that's repeating a lot,
especially in this piece.
And that comes from myself.
I don't think like a photographer anymore, in the
sense that I know what a perfect photograph looks like.
But for this work, it has way more to do with the shape and
form that I'm working with.
I think I became tired of that process, having to
chase down an image.
I just wanted to have 100% creative time
happening in my studio.
[MUSIC PLAYING]