Akihiro Hasegawa × Rin Nakanishi

Dates | 18 July – 15 August, 2026 

*Closed Sundays and Mondays

√K Contemporary is pleased to present Akihiro Hasegawa × Rin Nakanishi, a pair of concurrent solo exhibitions bringing together two emerging artists. On view from 18 July to 15 August 2026, the exhibition unfolds across the gallery’s two floors, with each artist occupying an independent space while entering into a quiet dialogue with the other.

Working in distinct materials and through different artistic languages, Hasegawa and Nakanishi each present a new body of work. Hasegawa’s abstract paintings and Nakanishi’s figurative sculptures approach the world from different directions, yet both ask what allows an artwork to carry presence, memory, and meaning within contemporary life.

 

▶  About the Exhibition

Following years of Buddhist monastic training, Akihiro Hasegawa has developed a painting practice shaped by Buddhist thought and Eastern philosophy. His work explores the shifting relationship between spiritual and physical light, creating abstract compositions that emerge from moments of perception rather than representation. Characterized by luminous surfaces and restrained gestures, the paintings invite a quiet, contemplative encounter. Alongside a new series of works, the exhibition includes a selection originally presented at FUJI TEXTILE WEEK 2025, where Hasegawa further expanded the scope of his practice.

For this exhibition, Rin Nakanishi returns to the human figure after several years of working primarily with animal motifs. Sculpted in chocolate, faces and hands become vessels for touch, warmth, and human connection. The material itself—fragile, familiar, and destined to change—holds the traces of physical presence while quietly evoking the impermanence of human existence. Earlier this year, Nakanishi received the Grand Prize of the MYNAVI ART AWARD at ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO 2026, and this exhibition marks the artist’s first solo presentation at √K Contemporary.

Rather than presenting a single shared theme, the exhibition allows two independent practices to unfold side by side. As visitors move between the gallery’s two floors, unexpected resonances emerge—between abstraction and figuration, painting and sculpture, light and touch. Together, the exhibitions offer two distinct ways of considering how art shapes our experience of the world.

 

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▶  1F / Akihiro Hasegawa

For this exhibition, Akihiro Hasegawa presents a new series of abstract paintings. Continuing his exploration of both inner and perceptual experiences of light, these works reveal a more intuitive and open approach, allowing gesture and sensation to guide the painting process.

The exhibition also includes a selection of works first presented at FUJI TEXTILE WEEK 2025, offering a glimpse into the recent evolution of his practice.

 

Artist | Akihiro Hasegawa

Born in Mie Prefecture in 1997. A contemporary artist currently based in Tokyo.

Born into a temple of the Tendai school of Buddhism, Hasegawa was ordained in 2009 and completed the Shido Kegyo (Four Preliminary Practices) at Saikyoji Temple of the Tendai Shinsei school in 2019. He entered the Department of Design at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2016 and completed his master’s degree in Design at the university’s Graduate School of Fine Arts in 2024.

Viewing emotion, thought, the body, and the existence of life itself from a contemplative distance, Hasegawa’s works reveal a singular perspective grounded in the Buddhist thought that forms his foundation, posing questions about mortality and the very nature of human existence. Drawn strongly to “light” since childhood, both visually and philosophically, he distills this formative experience into his work.

Selected as a grantee of the KUMA Foundation in 2021, Hasegawa took part in KUMA EXHIBITION 2022 and held his first solo exhibition, Yomogi & COMP at √K Contemporary, Tokyo, the same year. He has since participated in numerous exhibitions, including Meet Your Art Festival 2023 ‘Time to Change’; VOCA 2025 (The Ueno Royal Museum); THE ART OF COLOUR, an exhibition by the high jewelry maison Chaumet (Tokyo, 2025); and the group exhibition Saisei to Mirai (lit. Regeneration and Future) curated by Miwa Kutsuna (ASTER Curator Museum, Kanazawa, 2025). In 2024 he held a major solo exhibition at √K Contemporary, Tokyo, followed in the same year by the solo exhibition Immeasurable Lights (Amitabha), at N&A Art SITE, Tokyo, as the sixth installment of the Nanjo Selection. In 2025 he exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2025 in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi (Director: Fumio Nanjo; Curator: Kensho Tambara).

 

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▶  2F / Rin Nakanishi

Nakanishi’s new works mark a return to one of the earliest subjects in the artist’s practice, the human figure. Having recently focused on animals such as sheep and pigeons, the artist revisits the body as a site of intimacy, memory, and encounter.

Made from chocolate, the sculptures preserve traces of touch, reflecting on the warmth, intimacy, and transience of human existence.

 

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[Artist Statement]

In Japanese, there is a word: amagami, a gentle, playful bite.

A single word that carries sensation, relationship, and memory. A tactile language that quietly defines the space between oneself and another.

Too strong, and it becomes pain. Too weak, and the meaning disappears. It is an act of extraordinary precision, possible only within that narrow band.

When engaging with people or with sculpture, the subtle calibration of force within this band carries meaning in itself, and exchanges that never reach the surface pass between us and the other, between us and the material. A realm of ambiguity in which words are surely being spoken, yet never fully become words.

The moment teeth meet skin, our eyes meet.

On the skin that bites and the skin that is bitten, a mark remains for only a few seconds.

At the border between intimacy and violence, words have already passed between us.

― Rin Nakanishi

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Artist | Rin Nakanishi

Born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1999. Completed master’s degree in Sculpture at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, in 2025.

Drawing on a background of having grown up in a patisserie, Nakanishi creates sculptures and performance works made primarily from Western confectionery. His “eat sculpture” practice expands the experience of viewing into one of eating, engaging scent, taste, and texture, and challenges the very concept of sculpture with a new form of expression. In 2026 he received the MYNAVI ART AWARD Grand Prize at ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO.

[Solo Exhibitions]
2023  eat sculpture (ART FOR THOUGHT, Tokyo)
2024  about dreams (kitchen haco, Tokyo)
2025  Recipe for Sheep child (Okano, Tokyo)
2026  Kakomu Keshiki (DIEGO Omotesando, Tokyo)

[Selected Group Exhibitions]
2023  P.O.N.D Dialogue (PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO, Tokyo)
2024  Ichiban Oishiku Taberu ni wa (Marco Gallery, Osaka)
2025  The 2nd Shimizu Ekimae Art Festival (Shimizu Ekimae Ginza shopping street and other venues, Shizuoka)
2025  Practical meal, Practical wear (Kameido Art Center, Tokyo)
2026  ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO (Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto)