Year: 2021
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 112 x 145.5 cm (44 x 57 1/4 in.)
Acquired from Tomio Koyama Gallery, 2023
It is a worldview that is distinctive of Nagai. In the pink-filled space with a spreading canopy of a yellow fish as the starting point, a young girl sits smilingly surrounded by many plush toys, flowers, and grass. The decorative expression of the hand mirror and gold threads are created by the paints in a three-dimensional manner to enhance the glittering impression of the painting. Like a child playing house, the room is a happy, intimate space filled with her favorite things. The darkness is exceptionally eye-catching amid the soft colors, which is the adorable black cat peeping into the girl with a tilted head. In some places, the pale pink color obscures the outlines of objects like a mist, adding a dreamlike quality. Beneath this haze, at the girl’s feet, she seems to be playing with something light blue with her toes. Through these mysterious images that are inserted with a strong sense of existence in various places in the painting, they invite the viewer to imagine a deep fantasy that lurks in the depth of a pastel dream.
