Hiroshi Nagai
| Hiroshi Nagai | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947 Tokushima, Japan |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Japanese |
| 💼 Occupation | Artist/Filmmaker |
| Known for | Soul Music Inspired Pop Art |
| Notable work | The cover art for various music albums, notable Eiichi Ohtaki's "Long Vacation" |
Hiroshi Nagai was born in the countryside of Japan in the Tokushima Prefecture on December 22nd of 1947. He was inspired to become an artist by his father who enjoyed oil painting as a hobby. While growing up, his father would create landscape paintings, which later would become one of Nagai's key components in his art style.[1] He developed a more modernized style compared to his father's. With a modernized style in mind, Nagai decided to travel to Tokyo, where he took the entrance exam for the Art University. Nagai was rejected and decided to pursue becoming a fashion illustrator instead. Realizing that being a fashion illustrator was not to Nagai's calling, he took part-time jobs at TV production companies painting backdrops in black and white which would be the starting point to his career. In 1975, Nagai visited the United States, where he developed an interest in pop art and surrealism.[2] It inspired him to make pieces that were similar to pop art but also drawing on his love of landscape. Most of his paintings were based on a summer environment in locations such as, the United States of America and Hawaii.
Collaborations[edit]
Despite being inspired to paint through soul music, the genre that Nagai loves, he has developed album cover illustrations for Japanese pop music. It all started off with a commission from Eiichi Ohtaki. Ohtaki requested Nagai to collaborate on a picture book. With the completion of the picture book, "A Long Vacation", published in 1979, Ohtaki was inspired and composed songs influenced by Nagai's painting.[3] This led to the release of his album consisting of the same painting as the cover that was released on March 21, 1981. With this debut, many people liked Nagai's summer paintings and commissioned for similar works. This resulted to Nagai's popularity in designing album covers for vast amounts of musicians. As for the relationship between Nagai and Ohtaki, the two still collaborate, as Nagai continues to make more album covers for Ohtaki's soundtracks.
Bibliography[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 【対談】同じ道を、旅した2人の「時代と文化」（永井博 × 佐藤達郎） http://delfonics.com/hiroshinagai/talk.html
- ↑ Venker, Thomas. “My Heart Is Dedicated to Soul Music.” Kaput Mag, 19 Mar. 2015, www.kaput-mag.com/stories_en/hiroshi-nagai/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2017.
- ↑ “A Long Vacation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Long_Vacation.
- ↑ October 22, 2015 · by sunscreen · in Art, Creativity, Painting. “Hiroshi Nagai Paintings.” EverythingWithATwist, EverythingWithATwist, 2 Aug. 2017, everythingwithatwist.com/2015/10/22/hiroshi-nagai-paintings/.
His Japanese counterpart page got pushed through with no decent sources, why can't this one get pushed through with 4?[edit]
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