In the Realm of the Living: Haruo Mitsuta’s extraordinary miniature sculptures

Published on Tokyo Art Beat: “There are no pictures on the wall, or even any visible installation of which to speak. Instead, what I can see as I approach the loft-like exhibition space at Radi-um is a cluster of men crouching in a circle on the floor. In order to get a look at the “Jizai” exhibition, I too must take off my shoes and crawl onto the tatami platform (supported, I overhear, on a collection of beer crates). There I can see artist Haruo Mitsuta’s work — a series of true to life beetles rendered in precious and semi-precious metals, displayed on individual sheets of washi paper. Each one requires a sort of meditative contemplation, which in turn reveals a maniac-like attention to detail, as well as, more generally-speaking, a sense of marvel at what the human hand and an extraordinary amount of patience can produce…”