From June 12th (Friday) to July 4th (Saturday), 2026, Sho+1 will host the second solo exhibition by Naoki Kimura, a photographic artist active both domestically and internationally, titled "Nagi Rei Lullscapes – Before It Begins ∶ Zero – Horizon Photographic Art".
An opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 11th at 6 PM, and an artist talk will be held on Saturday, June 20th at 1 PM.
©︎Naoki Kimura 2026
Remains Ⅳ, 2025, 96.5 x 96.5cm, archival pigment print, Edition 3
"Something has already begun before the image can be seen."
If the statue doesn't begin, what will rise up?
In this exhibition, "Nagi-Rei," Naoki Kimura quietly deconstructs the very premise of photography itself.
Rather than rejecting the image itself, this attempt goes back to the very moment before it was created, attempting to present the conditions of the state of "seeing" before it became fixed as an object, composition, or meaning.
The stillness in "Nagi Rei" is not simply silence.
It represents a persistent tension without a clear declaration, a state that continues without any assertion and without ever ending.
Through his long-term work creating monochrome images, Kimura has continued to explore the nature of perception and space before an image is fixed in place.
"Zero-Horizon -Type Zero-" is a structural perspective on the nature of vision that has gradually taken shape through long-term practice.
This exhibition consists of the following four sections:
Fragments / Resonances / Interference / Remains
Fragments – Faint, fragmentary signs before they fully take shape as an image.
Resonances – Relationships that are maintained and quietly endure.
Interference – something where the structure becomes unstable and consistency breaks down.
• Remains — things that remain even after something else has retreated, eventually quietly taking on the characteristics of a "Return to Zero".
At the heart of this exhibition is the perspective that Kimura envisions as "Zero-Horizon (Type Zero)."
It's not something that can be interpreted as a theory; it's a point where the image hasn't yet asserted itself—a horizon that predates emergence, so to speak.
Rather than depicting a subject, these works feature fragments of light, surfaces, and space that emerge but remain without ever settling into a single, cohesive image.
These elements are composed of shifts in relationships such as emergence, interference, and discontinuity, leading the viewer into a realm of perception that is never definitively established.
With his creative activities primarily centered in Italy, Kimura's monochrome works strip away photographic expression to its bare essentials. Light does not illuminate but hesitates, form does not settle but drifts, and image refuses completion.
The work doesn't capture, it doesn't speak, and it's never finished. It simply remains there.
The question isn't "what to see," but rather "how does seeing begin, and where does it remain undefined?" This exhibition invites viewers into that quiet realm of fluctuation.
Please come and visit our gallery.
Artist Statement
A series of monochrome photographs are arranged in a serene space. While they capture a moment, they leave an impression of something still unfinished. The new exhibition, "Nagi Rei Lullscapes – Before It Begins ∶ Zero – Horizon Photographic Art," is an attempt to re-examine the inherent possibilities of photography as a medium.
Photography has long been treated as a means of fixing the world as an image. Moments are captured, framed, and fixed. Meaning accumulates around what has already been identified.
However, before this perception becomes established, another condition already exists. It lies not outside the photograph, but within the photograph itself.
For many years, I have continued my practice of monochrome photography, exploring light, distance, air, urban space, and the unstable relationship between presence and disappearance. The works gathered in this exhibition do not move towards spectacle or narrative resolution, but rather remain at a threshold where the relationship between image, perception, and space is not yet fully stable.
The structure that I would later come to understand as "Zero-Horizon" is not a negation of photography. Rather, it is an attempt to re-examine the conditions under which photographic existence emerges.
Here, the photograph is treated not merely as a representation, but as a "structure of relationships." Light does not exist simply to illuminate the subject. Space does not function as a background. What appears as an image continues to fluctuate between generation and retention.
This exhibition is comprised of several sections, including Fragments, Resonances, Interference, and Remains. These are not thematic classifications, but rather sets of different conditions that demonstrate how continuity, instability, persistence, and perceptual tension are visualized within the photographic field.
"Nagi Rei" does not aim at transcendence or symbolic interpretation. It is an attempt to question whether photography can still touch upon the state in which images, atmosphere, relationships, and perceptions exist before they are reclaimed into fixed interpretations.
In that unstable state, photography is still not completely finished. The same is true for perception.
Artist Profile
Naoki Kimura spent his childhood in Nishijin, Kyoto, and in 1987 he moved to the United States to explore photography as an art form.
Currently, he works as a photographic artist, exploring the atmosphere and relationships that arise in the space between light and shadow, time and space, centered around the concept of "Lullscapes." The characteristic of monochrome photography to abstract reality and quietly reveal the contours of existence has consistently formed the core of his expression.
After moving to the United States, he based himself in New York while intensifying his creative work in Europe. In particular, in his works centered in Italy, he has developed a unique monochrome expression by viewing architecture and urban spaces not merely as objects of documentation, but as "places" where the accumulation of time and the echoes of memory linger. In the past, he has also collaborated with architects on series productions.
Since moving his base of operations to Tokyo around 2017, he has been developing his work based on the sense of "place" that he deepened through his work in Europe, focusing on the relationship where light and shadow, time and silence intersect. In his recent works, rather than depicting the subject itself, he has turned his attention to the presence that exists before the image is fixed, and the quiet fluctuations just before it transitions into recognition.
In recent years, based on "Zero-Horizon Photo Art Theory" and "Shado," he has been developing creative and theoretical activities that reconsider photography not as a "reproduction of the subject," but as the very conditions in which existence and perception intersect.
Naoki Kimura
Instagram: @cogito0ergo0sum
Website: https://www.naokikimura.com/home-j
Exhibition Overview
Naoki Kimura Solo Exhibition Nagi Zero Lullscapes – Before It Begins ∶ Zero – Horizon Photographic Art
Date: June 12th (Friday) – July 4th (Saturday), 2026
Time: 12:00 – 18:00
Closed: Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays
Venue: Sho+1
*Opening Reception
Thursday, June 11, 2026 18:00 – 20:00
Artist scheduled to be present at the gallery
*Artist Talk
Saturday, June 20, 2026 13:00 – 14:00
Venue: Sho+1
Streaming: Live broadcast from Sho+1's official Instagram account
https://www.instagram.com/shoplus1
*Archive: Undecided
*On-site participation: No reservation required, free admission.
Please feel free to come along with your friends.
©︎Naoki Kimura 2026
About Sho+1
Sho+1 was established in 2017 as a successor project to "Gallery Show Contemporary Art." It introduces highly distinctive works by domestic and international artists from a unique perspective, and focuses particularly on planned exhibitions centered on pop art and pop culture.
We believe that a gallery should be a place where the gallerist's universal aesthetic sense is reflected, unaffected by trends. Sho+1's primary artists represent a wide range of styles, from pop art to works encompassing conceptual themes and even radical and erotic expressions. Furthermore, our exhibition method, which brings together works by internationally acclaimed artists carefully selected from our unique perspective, in the same space, inherits the concept of our predecessor gallery. Sho+1 strives to create a space where visitors can gain new discoveries and expand their understanding through encounters with these unique combinations and perspectives.
Furthermore, building upon the experience and network cultivated over more than 40 years of gallery management, we will continue to develop our gallery operations with a focus on internationally active overseas artists, and to further enhance our collaborations with international gallerists.
Gallery Address: 1F Ueno Yokoyama Building, 1-4-8 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0005, Japan
Gallery hours: 12:00 – 18:00
Closed on: Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays
Official website: http://www.shoplusone.com/
Official social media: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shoplus1/
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Sho plus1 Co., Ltd.
Sho plus1 Co., Ltd. provides customized consulting and advisory services based on its extensive experience and knowledge, built on approximately 40 years of interaction and sales experience with internationally prestigious gallerists.
We offer personalized and unique suggestions based on our expertise, catering not only to discerning collectors but also to those who want to incorporate art into their lives.
Our activities are based on the experience that our founder and director, Shoichiro Satake, has cultivated at the forefront of the international art scene for over 40 years. In particular, we have deep expertise in rare works by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and have also worked on numerous collaborative projects with contemporary photographers both in Japan and abroad, including Helmut Newton.
Leveraging our unparalleled experience and aesthetic sensibility in these fields, our office engages in highly unique activities.
Company Name: Sho plus1 Co., Ltd.
Address: 1F Ueno Yokoyama Building, 1-4-8 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0005, Japan
Representative: Shoichiro Satake
[Sho plus1 Co., Ltd.] Press Release
