Ongaku Tapes
Record sleeve design
Record sleeve design
With a huge interest in Japanese culture, and a love for music, I felt the urge to dig into the Japanese music scene. Especially the 80s city-pop really struck me. Not only the music itself, but also the visual language that came with it were totally inspiring.
I first started collecting Japanese records in 2015. That same year I went to Japan for the first time and a second time in 2016. I bought so many records that I decided to showcase them in mixtapes. You can listen all 4 tapes here.
The artworks made for this series were inspired by the sun-drenched Americana art of Japanese artist Hiroshi Nagai. But my mixtapes had nothing to do with American culture, so instead of depicting Californian swimming pools, I tried to capture Japan through onsens — Japanese hot springs — while keeping Nagai’s visual style in mind. This resulted in 4 works that became more detailed each time.
Also happy to say that Nagai reposted my work.
I first started collecting Japanese records in 2015. That same year I went to Japan for the first time and a second time in 2016. I bought so many records that I decided to showcase them in mixtapes. You can listen all 4 tapes here.
The artworks made for this series were inspired by the sun-drenched Americana art of Japanese artist Hiroshi Nagai. But my mixtapes had nothing to do with American culture, so instead of depicting Californian swimming pools, I tried to capture Japan through onsens — Japanese hot springs — while keeping Nagai’s visual style in mind. This resulted in 4 works that became more detailed each time.
Also happy to say that Nagai reposted my work.
Close ups
Mock ups