MITSURU SAKURAI
A photograph by Mitsuru Sakurai gives not only inorganic but also delicate impression to viewers. I met Sakurai when he had a first major solo exhibition, titled “Fe” at 3331 Arts Chiyoda in April, 2021. The show focused exactly iron itself, and I was quite impressed with his expressing only a specific part of various iron objects (steel tower) with his own point of view and aesthetic sense. One can clearly see highly-selected the details of steel towers in his photographs, and the beautiful forms delineated by him reminded me of my boyhood when I devoted to take pictures of steam locomotives such as type C62, C57, and 9600 around all over Japan. Sakurai has deserved for various glorious careers as he took first place for the division of industrial architectural photography at IPA (International Photography Award). And, such achievement resulted in the opportunity for him to take a picture of assembly site of a rocket, manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry in Japan. Sakurai is an extremely rare photographer who has his own vision to confront the iron itself in continuity.
Sakurai has been working on the “BP” series, which takes lighthouses from all over Japan as a reference point since 2021.
WORKS
BIOGRAPHY
1979 Born in Tokyo
2003 Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University
2023 Appointed Part-time Teacher at Region of Photography Major –
Department of Design, Tokyo Zokei University
AWARDS
2014年 PX3 photo competition /Nature/wildlife Gold medal 2016年 Graphis Photography Annual 2016 'Series Gold’ 2019年 IPA (International Photography Award) /Architecture/Industrial 1st Place 2021年 Tokyo TDC Annual Awards 2021 Prize Nominee Works 2023年 Sony World Photography Awards 2023 Professional Architecture & Design Shortlist
PAST EXHIBITIONS
2019 IPA (International Photography Award) BEST OF SHOW - CURATOR SELECTION in New York and
others
2020 Solo Exhibition "Fe" at 3331 Arts Chiyoda in Tokyo, Japan
2021 Solo Exhibition "Fe" at 3331 Arts Chiyoda in Tokyo, Japan
2022 Group Show at Art Fair Tokyo 2022 at Sho+1 booth in Tokyo, Japan
2022 Group Show "Illusion of Reality" at GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS「FOAM CONTEMPORARY」in Tokyo,
Japan
2022 Solo Exhibition "BP" at Sho+1 in Tokyo, Japan
