在長井朋子的作品中，包括像是熊、貓、馬等許多動物，幼小的女孩還有藝術家所想像的人物，和色彩繽紛的樹木和蘑菇紛紛散落在森林中和房間裡，營造出像劇場一樣的場景。畫面中的豐富元素和獨特的空間性在畫面中凝聚成一個世界。
長井在進行繪畫創作前並不會特別打草稿，而是透過多元媒材去詮釋不同主題。包括：油畫，壓克力，水彩，彩色鉛筆，蠟筆，以及雕塑和裝置。不同媒材所營造出來的是點綴著各個元素，進而交織成不同的節奏。長井的作品並非描繪特定的故事，觀者卻可以透過這些節拍進入藝術家所建構的世界中。
1982年出生於愛知。現居於愛知縣豐橋市，進行創作與生活。2006年畢業於愛知縣立藝術大學，主修油畫。除了在小山登美夫畫廊舉辦過四次個展之外，也在東京歌劇院畫廊辦過個展。並參加上野森美術館所舉辦的“VOCA 2010”。除此之外，也包括國際性的展覽像是第54屆威尼斯雙年展的相關企劃展“未來通行證 – 從亞洲到世界” (Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana, Venice, 2011) 。其他的像是在首爾、格諾伯勒、柏林等地所舉辦的藝術家聯展。也曾參與東日本大地震受災地區宮城縣七之濱的遠山育幼院（由高橋一平建築事務所設計）彩繪泳池計劃，2013年所完成的育兒院是由新加坡紅十字會全額贊助。作品也典藏於Takahashi Collection（日本），The Olbricht Collection（德國），The Zabludowicz Collection（英國），JAPIGOZZI Collection（美國/瑞士）等。
Tomoko Nagai’s works are known for their recurring girlish subjects and for the density of their compositions. Her palette is characteristically comprised of pastel hues that shift subtly depending on the mood or a particular season embodied by a work. Her tableaux occupy indeterminate spaces appearing to be composites of several places, at once indoor and outdoor, varying between fine detail and flatness unto abstraction. Recurring motifs in her work include endearing animals (particularly cats and bears), forest vegetation, toys, and young girls dressed as princesses. She sometimes presents her paintings and drawings in embellished frames arranged in suites, or as an installation. Nagai also creates sculptural objects featuring similar imagery; some of her other well known works include wall-mounted stuffed animals and human-scale dollhouse settings.
In Tomoko Nagai’s artworks, various animals, children, colorful trees and mushrooms are depicted in a theatrical arrangement against the backdrop of forests and domestic rooms. Loaded with a multitude of motifs, each of Nagai’s paintings embraces a unique sense of spatiality, wherein a dynamism that encapsulates the worlds of fictional narratives intricately overlaps with layers of images. The colorful matière and brushstrokes form a fantastical rhythm as the artist exercises an expression akin to composing a musical piece. The viewer perceives this melody while standing face-to-face with each painting. This evokes a sense of being inside the painting, as the viewer’s own memories and experiences – nostalgic sensations, recollections and dreams from childhood – connect with the worldview represented in each artwork.
Tomoko Nagai was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1982. She graduated from Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in 2006, majoring in Oil Painting. Nagai currently lives and works in Tokyo. Nagai held a solo exhibition at Project N, Tokyo Opera City in 2008, followed by a number of solo presentations in Kyoto, Kagoshima, Hong Kong and Singapore. She exhibited at “VOCA 2010” (the Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, 2010) and “Future Pass – From Asia to the World”, part of the 54th Venice Biennale (Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana, Venice, 2011), and has participated in international group exhibitions in Seoul (Gana Art Center, 2011), Grenoble (Le Magasin – Centre National d’Art Contemporainr) and Berlin (me Collectors Room Berlin, 2010). She has also taken a part in a project funded by the Singapore Red Cross, in which she painted an entire swimming pool at Toyama nursery school, located in the tsunami-stricken area of Shichigahama town, Miyagi (designed by Takahashi Ippei Office, completed in 2013). Nagai has engaged with broad audiences outside of museums and art galleries, providing title designs and artworks for television programmes on NHK Educational, as well as creating book covers for a range of publications. In 2017, she published her first monograph “Thousands of Finches”. Nagai’s artworks have been included in public collections both in Japan and internationally, notably the Takahashi Collection (Japan), the Olbricht Collection (Germany), the Zabludowicz Collection (UK) and The JAPIGOZZI Collection (US / Switzerland).
Solo exhibitions
2020 GALLERY OHRIN, Hitachi countries Izumo Taisha, Ibaraki, Japan
2019 "Coloring Beyond the Edges" Roppongi Hills A/D Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2018 "A Hundred Years and Cherry Blossom Tree in October" Ebihara Shoten, Tokyo, Japan
"Room with Colorful Flowers" Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store 6F Artspot, Tokyo, Japan
"Atelier in Peach and Rose Color, Magic" 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2017 "Thousands of Finches" Roppongi Hills A/D Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
"Tale of Nippon Umeboshi" Mizuho Oshiro Gallery, Kagoshima, Japan
2015 "The Hairy House in Midsummer" 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2014 "Amber Light and Carpet of Dropped Chestnuts" Roppongi Hills A/D Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2013 "Dramatic Moments" Tomio Koyama Gallery Singapore
2012 "It might be true (continued)" Roppongi Hills A/D Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011 "Small Planets and Many Kids" Mama Kid, Hong Kong
"Recital Day in June" Mizuho Oshiro Gallery, Kagoshima, Japan
2010 "In the room of Toccata" Roppongi Hills Art + Design Store Space A+D, Tokyo, Japan
"Winter Wind and Konko" Tomio Koyama Gallery Kyoto/ TKG Editions Kyoto, Japan
2009 "Tomoko Nagai by ZOF" BEAMS T Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan
2008 "Project N33" Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
"A child and an owl and a gray cat sparkling on Sunday" Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 "Bara mo Uma ni Uta ni Midori mo Niwa" Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo, Japan
"'Bara mo Uma ni Uta ni Midori mo Niwa' SHINJUKU ART ∞ VOL.02" the temporary enclosure at Ο l Ο l City Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Group exhibitions
2018 "Tomio Koyama Gallery: Works from the Gallery Artists and the Collection 3" 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2017 "10th ASYAAF (Asian Students & Young Artists Art Festival)" Dongdaemun Design Plaza), Seoul, Korea
"Tomio Koyama Gallery: Works from the Gallery Artists and the Collection 2", 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016 "21st HEART EXHIBITION" Tokyu Department Store Shibuya HONTEN, Tokyo, Japan
"DECO・DECO・DECO!" Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store, Tokyo, Japan
2014 "KISS THE HEART #3" Isetan Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
"Ginza Mitsukoshi x Tomio Koyama Gallery, Art Sellection" Gallery, Ginza Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan
2013 "Tokyo Painting II Mindscape between interior and exterior" Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
"Ginza Mitsukoshi × Tomio Koyama Gallery Art Selection" Ginza Mitsukoshi 8th Floor Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
"JAPAN ART EXHIBITION" Isetan Singapore
2011 "JAPANCONGO" Le Magasin -Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France
"Girlfriends Forever!" Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo, Japan
"Future Pass -From Asia to the World" Collateral Event of the 54th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia, Abbazia di San Gregorio, Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana, Venezia, Italy
"Pathos and Small Narratives" Gana Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2010 "VOCA 2010" The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
"Passion Fruits Picked from The Olbricht Collection" me Collectors Room Berlin, Germany
2008 "Haptic Group Exhibition by artists from Brazil and Japan Curated by Vik Muniz" Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo, Japan
2006 "Cow Parade TOKYO in Marunouchi 2006" Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan
"Tokyo Wonder Wall 2006" Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2005 "Mandragora and Three Horns" YEBISU ART LABO FOR GALLERY, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Public collections
The Franks-Suss Collection
The JAPIGOZZI Collection
Olbricht Collection
TAKAHASHI COLLECTION
The Zabludowicz Collection
