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.
WORKS
BIOGRAPHY
2003 Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University 2003 Joined Amana Co., Ltd. 2014 Opened MSPG studio, Yushima, Tokyo
AWARDS
2002 Konica Minolta Photo Premio Winner 2006 Brown Color Photo Contest Winner 2013 Emon Photo Contest Winner 2014 PX3 photo competition /Nature/wildlife Gold medal 2016 Graphis Photography Annual 2016 'Series Gold’ 2019 IPA (International Photography Award) /Architecture/Industrial 1st Place 2020 IPA (International Photography Award) ONESHOT / Honorable Mention 2021 Tokyo TDC Annual Awards 2021 Prize Nominee Works
PAST EXHIBITIONS
2019 IPA (International Photography Award) BEST OF SHOW - CURATOR SELECTION in New York and
others
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
