The arc and arc ellipse series are composed of sweeping elliptical curves and X-shaped marks, depicting fragments of a larger circular form that extends beyond the boundaries of the canvas. In arc ellipse in particular, actual bamboo bows were used to generate the arcs, and their trajectories, shadows, and inclinations are incorporated into the composition.
The bamboo bow was an important tool that Nakanishi had employed since the Tangent Arc series. He described it as a “gauge for introducing the canvas.” More than a device for drawing arcs, it functioned as an instrument for locating the place where painting comes into being. By allowing the broad, gentle curve of the bow to touch the canvas, Nakanishi explored the conditions under which pictorial space could emerge. This action was less an act of drawing than an act of probing the canvas—testing its position, extent, and relationship to gravity and to the artist’s own body.
For Nakanishi, the canvas was not merely a support but what he called a “receptive membrane”, a point of contact between reality and painting. Consequently, the process of making a work did not begin with fixing an image onto the surface. Rather, through the slow movement of the bamboo bow, he sought to measure and locate the coordinates and spatial conditions from which painting itself could arise. The arcs depicted in arc and arc ellipse can thus be understood as traces of bodily movement and spatial exploration, making visible the very moment at which painting comes into being.