The human body can be beautiful, but it takes a lot of Photoshopping to hide all the bumps and blackheads, spots and tears, wrinkles and sags. We are all grotesque in our own ways, and we don’t all have a team of makeup artists, estheticians, hairstylists and photo retouchers to erase our real selves. What if someone took all of the gross bits and put them together into one little creature? That’s exactly what sculptor Jonathan Payne did with his FLESHLETTES series, making little finger-acne-cellulite-wrinkle-foreskin-anus creatures that glisten and blush like the real things. These little guys are gross, but almost cute – aww, a glans-nose and a nipple-penis with crooked yellow teeth! They are self-consciousness brought to life, the way we imagine others to see our flaws: as one, big mass of imperfection. But unless people literally run screaming from you on the street, rest assured that you probably aren’t as horrifying as one of these little guys!
