Tyler Shields Gives ‘Glee’ Star Heather Morris a Black Eye … For Art, Of Course

Tyler Shields is at it again. The celebrity photographer, famous for dumping a bucket of blood on Lindsay Lohan and photographing her with a gun to her head, has recruited Glee star Heather Morris for his latest court with controversy: a shoot he calls “Bruised Up Barbie.”

Shields posted images of Morris on his website that depict the actress battered, beaten and black-eyed. In one photo she is shown drinking water from a flat iron, and in another her wrists are bound by the electrical appliance. The series of photos has prompted criticism from those who say the shocktographer is glamorizing violence against women.

Rita Smith, executive director for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Denver, told E! News, “I don’t know if Tyler is aware but I’m quite sure there are plenty of women who have been abused by these kinds of household appliances and children as well being hit with electrical cords. I’m not sure what the purpose is other than shock value.”

Shields, however, says that was not his intention.

“In no way were we promoting domestic violence,” he told E! News. “We wanted to do a bruised-up Barbie shoot and that’s exactly what we did!” Shields explained further to Us Weekly, “Our shoot poses a lot of questions, but just like in real life, Heather is definitely not a victim. More like a really liberated woman.”

This is not Shields’ first run-in with charges of decorating abuse. His aforementioned shoot with Lohan showed the famously self-destructive actress mimicking suicide, and a quick tour of Shields’ website now reveals a more recent image of Lohan holding a knife to her throat. That’s next to a photograph of a topless woman standing next to a cab while a tuxedoed man points an assault rifle at her head.

So what do you think? Do you find artistic merit in Shields’ work? Do his photographs provoke more than just shock and controversy, or do they merely glamorize domestic violence?