NONAMI Hiroshi

(1954- ) Shimane.

Fantasy-like portraits of women and nudes. Sophisticated, composited images made by hand, without any computer.

Major themes: Women, nudes

Education: Osaka Shashin Senmon Gakko (present Osaka Designer's Gakuin), Osaka;graduated 1974.

Career: Established Studio No・ah in 1979. Numerous solo exhibitions since 1991.

Abyss

Reviewed on: 2002-05-24 Last modified: 2005-04-05

Fantastic nude images created with the computer (not!).

すごい時間かかったそうなデジタルヌード写真（じゃないや！）。モデルさんは皆外国人。

Published: 2000-03-15 Publisher: Kawade Shobo Shinsha ISBN: 4309903800 Price in Japan: ¥3,570 Qualities: Hard cover, color photos Size: A4, 80 pp. Language: English (bio only)

Oops, after all these years, I thought that he used a computer and Photoshop to create these incredible images. But no, he makes these images by hand. No digital, no computer, and no Photoshop. It makes his work even more mind-boggling. Below is my original and mistaken book review: --- This is one of the few Japanese photo books featuring digital photography as fine art. You would think there would be more people doing this kind of thing in Japan, but no. It seems that image editing with a computer is more popular for commercial purposes instead of fine art.

The artist photographed nude models in a photo studio, and then fused or juxtapositioned a myriad of things on the woman's body such as giant butterfly wings on her back, tree roots on her head, a unicorn horn on her forehead, and a fish tail replacing her legs (not like a mermaid). Sometimes it's hard to tell what was actually photographed with the model and what was added later with a computer.

All the models are non-Japanese, and all the pictures are nice to look at. I wonder how long it took him to create these fantastic images. Since Abyss was originally published in 1993 (this book is a reprint), computers then were much less powerful and much slower than today's PCs. He must have had many coffee breaks during the times he had to wait for Photoshop to finish a task or save an image. He has done similar digital images for Makiko Esumi in E-Mode. (Reviewed by Philbert Ono)

E-MODE

Reviewed on: Nov. 18, 1999 Last modified: 2005-04-05

Another artistic nude photo book of actress Makiko Esumi.

Published: Nov. 25, 1999 More info Publisher: Little More Co. More info ISBN: 4898150128 More info Price in Japan: ¥2,625 More info Qualities: Soft cover, color photos More info Size: A4, 104 pp. More info Language: Japanese and English

This is her second nude photo book and a terrific follow-up to her first one (see review above). She's got class, and an eye for art. This is a fine-art nude photo book, not one of those idol-type nudes nor sensational-type nudes.

Her first nude book had a horizontal format, but this book is totally vertical. She's getting really botanical with a lot of roots, flora, vines, and leaves interwined with her body. Sometimes it looks like she's transforming into a tree. Being a former fashion model, she's very good at posing for the camera. The photos have a dreamy look to them, with greenish-yellow tones. They also look like fantasy, with huge angelic wings sprouting from her back or a unicorn horn coming out of her head. There seems to be a lot of digital editing and enhancements in the photos, but the photographer does not use a computer. It's all hand-made images.

This is no doubt one of the finest nude photo books in recent years.

Biography in Japanese

１９５４２月１３日島根県生

１９７４大阪写真専門学校卒

１９７９ Studio No・ah 設立

１９９１個展─EXHIBITION／大阪

１９９２個展─IMPRESSION and EXPRESSION コダックフォトサロン（東京）ソニーサロン（大阪）

１９９３写真集「ABYSS」出版個展─ABYSS OF TIME／アセンスギャラリー（大阪） GOOD ART展出展／京都市美術館

１９９５ LUNA SEA写真集「ZOE」出版写真集「EUREKA」出版 DanseMacabre展出展／San Anton musuem（米）

１９９７写真集「CHAOS」出版個展─CHAOS／堀内フォトサロン（大阪・名古屋）

１９９８個展─Foto-en diasalon／ベルギー

１９９９江角マキコ写真集「E-MODE」出版

２０００写真集「ABYSS」改訂新版出版

１９９９〜２０００個展─E-MODE／パルコ（東京・名古屋・札幌・大阪）

２００３個展─野波浩自掴展／art space K（大阪）他個展数回

２００４個展—MOUSA出版記念個展／art space K（大阪）

２００５個展—MOUSA出版記念個展／アセンスギャラリー（大阪）

２００５新作写真集MOUSA出版

現在／いのうえ歌舞伎（劇団☆新感線）、宝塚歌劇団等の宣伝美術を手掛けるなど、多方面で活躍中 ( http://www.nonami-mousa.com/ より）