There’s always this feeling of uninhibited freedom to Ryan McGinley‘s photography. Images of young, naked bodies set against the backdrop of strange wilderness. Faces that look youthful and places that feel expansive and otherwordly. Fireworks, caves, starry skies, and even, in many cases, wild animals themselves. It only seems appropriate then, that animals themselves would be the subjects of McGinley’s latest exhibition, entitled, appropriately enough, Animals. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to drop in on Manhattan’s Team Gallery and see the collection on a grand scale.

Animals, despite the presence of McGinley’s trademark nude models, focuses primarily on the animals themselves, using the bodies as a sort of living, breathing canvas. During the process, McGinley traveled to a number of animal sanctuaries and zoos in order to pair his models with a gorgeous and unusual set of animal counterparts. And while the images are certainly stylized in certain ways, the interactions between human and animal are real, including the numerous scratches, bite marks, and visibly uncomfortable poses. The details of McGinley’s process help to add some context, but really, these shots speak for themselves. See the whole collection here.