Hiroshi Nagai

Hiroshi Nagai (Japanese: 永井博, born December 22, 1947) is a Japanese graphic designer and illustrator, known for his cover designs of city pop albums in the 1980s, which established the recognizable visual aesthetic associated with the loosely defined music genre.

Life and work Nagai was born on December 22, 1947, in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. He was inspired to become an artist by his father, who enjoyed oil-painted landscapes, and began working as a graphic designer in 1970. Later, Nagai traveled to Tokyo, where he attempted to join art school although he was not accepted. After visiting the United States and Guam between 1973 and 1975, he was impressed by the scenery, which became the starting point of his subsequent style. Gaining an interest in pop art, he took inspiration from English artist David Hockney. Americana became a key component in his art.

Starting in the 1980s, he created tropical and clear landscape illustrations as typified by the record jackets of Eiichi Otaki's A Long Vacation and .

Nagai's work had an influence on the vaporwave style partially thanks to the YouTube era. In 2022, BroadwayWorld described him as a "legendary artist".

Publications