Hiroshi Nagai: Paintings for Music

Hiroshi Nagai: Paintings for Music surveys the relationship between Japan’s city pop music and the paintings of esteemed illustrator Hiroshi Nagai.

This is the first international solo exhibition of Nagai, whose cover art for Eiichi Ohtaki’s A Long Vacation and numerous other iconic record jackets spearheaded Japan’s city pop music culture. Since then, Nagai has collaborated with musicians and brands around the world, leaving his mark on contemporary culture and style.

This exhibition explores an era that encapsulated the new young urban lifestyle in Tokyo through the lens of Nagai’s paintings. His dreamy visual palette and associated city pop hits epitomised the cultural reverberations of Japan’s economic boom, providing a soundtrack and aesthetic for young urbanites lusting after endless summers by the poolside and an indulgent city nightlife. 

Hiroshi Nagai: Paintings for Music presents 20 of the illustrator’s original works spanning his career, as well as a collection of record jackets made for a variety of music styles from Japan and around the world, including soul, funk, pop, reggae, boogie and more.

Presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney in collaboration with FMCD Gallery Studio.