Hiroto Nakanishi / Emerging Forms

Vague Kobe is pleased to present ‘Emerging Forms’, an exhibition by wood sculptor Hiroto Nakanishi.

Based in a mountain village in Shiga, Nakanishi begins his process by entering the forest and gathering fallen trees and decaying wood. Rather than treating wood simply as a material, he listens carefully to the traces of time, memory, and life embedded within it, discovering form through an ongoing dialogue with the wood itself.

After studying furniture making, Nakanishi gradually shifted the focus of his practice toward exploring existence beyond function. Instead of milled lumber, he works with trees shaped by time and nature: weathered stumps left behind in the forest, vines that have survived through entanglement, or sacred trees split by lightning. Encountering such wood, he often spends years quietly observing it until the form hidden within begins to emerge. What he ultimately carves can be understood as a crystallisation of the time the tree has lived.

This exhibition presents Nakanishi’s latest works, offering a glimpse into a practice that continues to deepen and evolve. Within the space of Vague Kobe — a place that has long embraced natural materials such as wood — the quiet presence and subtle tension of the works resonate with the environment, gradually unfolding throughout the space.

Coinciding with the exhibition, Nakanishi’s first monograph, ‘Emerging Forms’, will also be published. The book was produced together with Gallery NAO MASAKI, with art direction, graphic design, and editing by Teruhiro Yanagihara Studio and Vague Kobe. The volume brings together newly photographed images of Nakanishi’s sculptures, along with scenes from his studio and the surrounding forest, capturing the moment when the works come into presence within space.

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Hiroto Nakanishi — Emerging Forms
27 March — 4 May 2026
Friday—Monday 12—6pm

Vague Kobeでは、木彫作家・中西洋人による展覧会「Emerging Forms」を開催します。

滋賀の山里にアトリエを構える中西は、森に分け入り、倒木や朽ちた木々を拾い上げることから制作を始めます。木を単なる素材として扱うのではなく、そこに宿る時間や記憶、生命の痕跡に耳を澄まし、対話を重ねながら形を見出していきます。

家具製作を学び、木工の技術を身につけたのち、中西は用途を超えた「存在」そのものへと制作の軸を移しました。製材された木ではなく、風雪に晒され、打ち捨てられた切り株や、絡み合いながら生き延びた蔓、雷に裂かれた御神木。そうした木と出会い、その内部に潜むかたちが立ち現れるまで、何年も静かに見つめ続けます。彼が彫り出すのは、木が生きてきた時間の結晶となります。

本展では、新作を中心に、深化を重ねてきた中西の表現の現在地をご紹介します。木をはじめとする自然素材を大切にしてきたVague Kobeの空間において、作品の放つ静かな気配と緊張感は、場と呼応しながらゆるやかに広がっていきます。

また、展覧会に合わせて、中西洋人初の作品集『Emerging Forms』も刊行されます。中西が所属するGallery NAO MASAKIとともに、Teruhiro Yanagihara StudioとVague Kobeがアートディレクション、グラフィックデザイン、編集を手がけました。制作の現場であるアトリエや森の風景、作品が空間に立ち現れる瞬間までを収めた一冊です。ぜひ会場でお手に取ってご覧ください。

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中西洋人 展覧会「Emerging Forms」
2026年3月27日（金）—5月4日（月）
毎週 金ー月 12:00—18:00

Photos: Haruhi Okuyama