NAM Creative Collective Blends Zero Gravity Fantasies With Reality (PHOTOS)

Creative collective NAM blend reality and fantasy with their photography. Their artwork depicts a seemingly impossible world of suspended objects; macaroons and chocolate sauce floating in midair around a woman lying on her back. This dream world, though, is real.

Using visual trickery, clever suspension techniques and photography, NAM -- a graphic design and art collective based out of Tokyo -- fabricates scenes sans gravity. Now comprised of 10 artists, the group formed in 2006 with graphic designer Takayuki Nakazawa and a photographer Hiroshi Manaka.

"The basic theme of NAM's creation is 'A Fantasy in Life' because we believe we can find a fantasy right in the reality," they state on their website. "We try to present the ambiguousness of the recognition of what is 'fake' and what is 'real' by showing the setup images created in familiar spaces with familiar objects we see and use everyday."

The scenes are constructed with objects hanging by synthetic fibers that are threaded by hand. Nakazawa said the process is complicated and time-consuming, but it is important in order to achieve this melding of perspectives.

"We believe the most important aspect of expressing a fantasy world is to keep things as realistic as possible," they state. "A realistic setting has a strong persuasive power and combining this element with current technology resulted in a unique mix which is one of our characteristics."

A majority of their work is commissioned, like the macaroons and chocolate photograph, which was constructed for the Harbour City Chocolate Trail in Tsim Sha Tsui, Japan. Go to their website to view more of their work.

Click through below to see some of NAM's suspension art.

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Watch below for a video of the production process for the Harbour City Chocolate Trail project:

Comments

[Aitch5]

02:25 PM on 04/12/2012

Stunning work!

[Proud Bay Man]

11:02 PM on 04/11/2012

Honestly it's all kind of boring. The last two are okay, but in general, it's so so.

[bigshotprof]

04:49 PM on 04/11/2012

That is a COOL picture!

[Litho-stone]

02:24 PM on 04/11/2012

Very reminiscent of work by Phillipe Halsman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Halsman

[glitterpet]

12:59 PM on 04/11/2012

Dali did it first and better -- "Dali Atomica" -- and all in a time when you really had to work to produce a photograph!

[Litho-stone]

02:23 PM on 04/11/2012

That was my first thought as well, but to give credit where credit is due, the photos you reference were a collaboration between Dali and Legendary photographer Phillipe Halsman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Halsman
Enjoy!

[glitterpet]

08:53 PM on 04/11/2012

Oops, that right , thanks. . . I have a friend who still takes film shots and develops them himself. . . not digital .. there is a qualitative difference, yes? Especially black and white, which he does . .

[bigshotprof]

04:52 PM on 04/11/2012

I'll swear, a guy could pull a volkswagen out of his butt, and some people would rush to the Huffington Post to point out some guy with a Peugeot who did it first.

[glitterpet]

08:56 PM on 04/11/2012

. . . don't have anything substantive to contribute? How sad. . .

[dnyal]

12:43 PM on 04/11/2012

It's beautiful. I love the way the Japanese took western culture and made it better by adapting it to their own rigid, high standards. It's mind blowing!
They are just crazy geniuses years light ahead of us.

[DoesNotComputer]

12:27 PM on 04/11/2012

Pretty phenomenal, those at the end.

The basic studio shots are not doing as much for me.

[donnyraindog]

09:40 AM on 04/11/2012

Whatever, I just hope the macaroons and cookies made it through this alright!