FAINT WAVES

Art by Hisao Kawada.

This one is long overdue; I first talked about writing a proper Aesthetic Appreciation for this individual all the way back in August 2024 (time flies!). Mentioned previously back in Aesthetic Appreciation 005: Eizen Suzuki, Hisao Kawada is one of the big three (Nagai, Suzuki, and Kawada) who helped craft the distinct visual identity attached to the City Pop music genre of Japan. As we did with Nagai and Suzuki, let us shine a small spotlight on the brilliant life and work of a phenomenal artist. This is Aesthetic Appreciation 007: Hisao Kawada.

Hisao Kawada, born in 1947, began his artistic life in architecture and office design. While he didn’t stay in that realm, his beginnings are easily evidenced in his work. The detailed structural design of both home and city life are straight out of Architectural Digest. Kawada moved on to independent design and freelance work in the 70’s, with his art exhibited widely in both Japan and the United States from the 1980’s onward. Speaking of the 80’s, Kawada’s work saw prominent use on album covers of the era, gracing the sleeves of A Farewell To The Seashore by Naoya Matsuoka, Niagara Song Book 2 by Niagara Fall Of Sound Orchestral, and Each Time by Eiichi Ohtaki, to name a few. Today, not unlike his aforementioned peers, Kawada’s clean and nostalgic artwork has been associated with the Vaporwave aesthetic as well.

Online, for the reasons above, Kawada’s work has seen renewed interest and been shared prominently. I’ve been familiar with Hisao Kawada’s work for many, many years now and have celebrated him when I can. Kawada has seen frequent admiration on my Instagram and Twitter, among others. I don’t use either platform currently, but if you go through my respective pages, you’ll see his work crop up quite a few times over the years. Hisao Kawada’s idyllic Japanese vision of coastal Americana closely aligns with my taste and aesthetic. The poolside landscapes, mid-century modern vistas, and 50’s-meets-80’s romanticism are visual cues I can get behind any day of the week. It’s the sort of imagery that I imagined when I was producing Statue & Palm, Escapades ’23, and to a lesser extent, Amore Mio Dolce (just think of Kawada depicting Italy, magnifico). If you’re anything like me, you’ll be glad to know that Hisao Kawada is not yet retired and is still promoting and exhibiting art today.