One of the largest contributors to the overall aesthetic

December 11, 2024 12:18 PM

Inspired heavily by the concepts behind American pop art and the styles of British pop artists such as David Hockney, Nagai focused on imaginations of a 1950s Americana landscape. Adapting the deep blue skies, relaxed ocean side settings and sleepy nighttime cityscapes from previous pop artists, Nagai developed his own style throughout the late 1970s. His work finally began to gain traction in Japan around the turn of the 1980’s and this coincided fortuitously with the rise of City Pop. from Hiroshi Nagai: Japan’s Sun-drenched Americana [Tokyo Cowboy]
posted by chavenet (12 comments total)

I love Nagai's art and his website linked here is so charmingly old-school and janky.
posted by star gentle uterus at 12:46 PM on December 11, 2024 [3 favorites]

It's like if Random House hired a gay Patrick Nagel to make covers for the Vintage Contemporaries in MacPaint. I mean that in the best and most admiring possible way--this is great!
posted by mittens at 12:55 PM on December 11, 2024 [6 favorites]

These are great. I especially love that skyline where the reflections in the water are just rectangles, an amazing simplification which works really well.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:27 PM on December 11, 2024 [1 favorite]

I'm into this.
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:29 PM on December 11, 2024 [1 favorite]

"Hey, AI image generator! Make me a David Hockney."
posted by Modest House at 1:56 PM on December 11, 2024 [1 favorite]

Many of us in the 50's never lived in Florida, Malibu or Hawaii. And even if we did, it would never be this idyllic. More like a travel brochure than anything else...
posted by jim in austin at 2:00 PM on December 11, 2024 [1 favorite]

I always assumed that Art like this was imitating video game backgrounds, but it seems video game creators were borrowing more than just the music from City Pop
posted by Jon_Evil at 2:12 PM on December 11, 2024 [1 favorite]

Please send me the jigsaw puzzle versions. These are lovely and I enjoy the torture of assembling a blue expanse.
posted by rekrap at 2:26 PM on December 11, 2024 [1 favorite]

The Light in the Attic label has put out three compilation LPs of City Pop from the mid-70s to mid-80s. Hiroshi Nagai's images grace the covers. Only the 3rd is not sold out.

Light in the Attic also had some fun at Nagai's expense on Halloween.
posted by Kabanos at 3:14 PM on December 11, 2024 [2 favorites]

oh man last August when I was in Tokyo, I went to an exhibition of some of his work, and honestly it's just… something about it speaks to me on some weird primal level, like he's somehow a druid tapped into the Eighties Elemental Plane
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:30 PM on December 11, 2024 [7 favorites]

I love city pop even though I don’t understand the lyrics. If you are an old like me who lived through and loved what’s now called “yacht rock”, I highly recommend digging into this genre, maybe with the compilation listed above.
posted by caviar2d2 at 9:00 AM on December 12, 2024

a druid tapped into the Eighties Elemental Plane

Sock puppet name up for grabs.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:13 AM on December 17, 2024