While creating the reliefs series, which are intermediate works between abstract and figurative, he promoted British contemporary art by participating in Unit One and Seven and Five Society.
On the other hand, interesting are his still lifes, such as “goblet and two pears (1924)” and “apples and pears (1927)”. Of course, these works are influenced by Paul Cézanne and his father, but there is a similarity with Japanese painting.
Although later than Ben Nicholson’s, Kobayashi Kokei’s work (Kashi: 1936) is similar in its composition and use of blank space. Perhaps Nicholson also had something in common with the spirit of wabi-sabi and Zen.