Time Goes By (section)

This pristine poolside scene captures the essence of 1980s Japanese "city pop" album art, a style that Hiroshi Nagai helped define. The artist's signature approach combines bold, flat colors with precise geometric forms to create a world that feels both incredibly inviting and slightly dreamlike. Those impossibly perfect palm trees, the manicured hedges, and that crystalline blue water all work together to evoke an idealized vision of leisure and escape that was particularly popular during Japan's economic boom.

Nagai's work has experienced a huge resurgence thanks to the internet's love of retro aesthetics and vaporwave culture. What makes his scenes so appealing is their emptiness, the way they suggest a perfect moment frozen in time where you could just slip into that pool or relax under that umbrella. There's something both nostalgic and timeless about this vision of paradise, whether you're remembering a vacation you once took or imagining one you'd like to have.