Sakagura

Toru Sugita

Toru Sugita depicts an otherwise ordinary street corner awash in the blue stillness of summer dusk, the chipping paint and sagging awning of an abandoned brewery and the worn streets that wrap around its tired form now transformed into a dreamscape. Sugita is a master of reframing the overlooked angles and hidden details of architecture new and old, making it appear as intentionally composed as any still life. Here, a small window onto a quiet corner of an aging Japanese neighborhood, so anonymous it could be found in any city, holds within it a world of mystery.

Sugita currently lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. Though he is primarily known for his intaglio prints, often in monochromatic palettes, this color reduction woodcut shows his expert use of textures found in woodblocks and his keen use of color.