painting Youtube: Hiroshi Nagai 永井博

9/20/2022

If you listen to 80s Japan city pop it is impossible that you didn’t come across his illustrations on the Internet.

Blue skies, white parasols, long palm trees, a pool and a beach, Hiroshi Nagai has been bringing on Youtube Californian summer vibes. In 1973, he made a trip to the United States and Guam, impressed by these landscapes that became his main source of inspiration, he has covered the Internet with his palette since.

Album painting: images for 80s music

Inevitably associated with city pop that emerged, Nagai explored an era that embodied the new urban lifestyle of the youth in 80s Tokyo. Economic bubble, technological growth, Walkman, Sony: the soundtrack of an endless hot summer was born, and Hiroshi Nagai drew it.

He notably made the cover of the Album A Long Vacation by Eiichi Otaki. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021, and is one of the most popular urban pop albums of all time.

Since then, Nagai collaborated with musicians and brands around the world, leaving his mark on contemporary culture and style, working on illustrations of tropical landscapes for record covers.

懐かしい Nostalgia

Poolsides, waves, sunset, 80s cars and Richard Neutra architecture, the contrast between the absolute calm, the silence, the simplicity and the luminosity in his painting brings the instant nostalgia of an endless summer of love. His dreamy visual palette and associated urban pop hits embody the cultural repercussions of Japan’s economic boom, providing a soundtrack for simple and relaxing sunny days by the pool. From the memories of vacations that resurface, Nagai brings up images of past summers, the sun, the heat and the taste of chlorine.

From acrylic to VR : new art experience for visitors

There is a unique sophistication and modernity to his work that has mysterious emotional quality. The touch of his paintings is reminiscent of computer graphics and it does absolutely look like digital art, although everything is hand painted. He used to aim for digital looking art and would try to erase as much brush marks as possible but he shifted to analog looking art thus leaving marks intentionally.

In summer of 2022 Hiroshi Nagai experimented a VR exhibition at Daikanyama Tokyo : TROPICAL MODERN VR. Always renewing himself, he offered a new art experience to visitors.

Wearing a VR headset, they were immersed into Nagai’s artwork, transported into the summer sunlight paintings.

Inside, they were also able to meet with him or purchase goods from his collection.

While city pop has been mostly concentrated in Japan, in recent years it has found an international audience through the internet and as an influence on modern genres such as neo city pop, future funk or vaporwave.