Sugai lived and worked as painter, sculptor and print maker in Paris from 1952. His work is shown in major museums world-wide.
He started print-making in 1952 after which it became a major part of his oeuvre. He produced some 400 prints. His style showed a major change from around 1962 when he adopted 'hard-edge' geometric imagery in contrast to the previous oriental calligraphy-influenced brush like style.