Pond is pleased to present Paper Age, a solo exhibition by master animator and collage artist Hoji Tsuchiya. Paper Age explores vivid and imaginative handcrafted worlds through a collection of Tsuchiya’s drawings, collages and animation works.

Tsuchiya’s drawings and cut paper collage work embrace intuition and play. He refers to these works as the “starting point of creation;” energized moments of play that have the ability to quickly grow and expand into larger worlds.

Tsuchiya’s stop-motion animations are narrative driven. Creating these ambitious works is a slow process. Progressing his animations by an average of two seconds a day, Tsuchiya layers, redacts, and manipulates paper in front of the camera capturing shots frame by frame, allowing the story to unfold as he works.

Weaving a sense of vitality in motion that breaks through the labor intensive process. The dense layers of collage found in the backgrounds of works like "The Moment It Ends/Owaru shunkan" and "A Long Dream" embody a narrative quality born from this interplay of concept and improvisation. Planning and chance are vital forces at the core of Tsuchiya’s creative process. 

Paper Age will open on Friday, July 11 with a reception from 5:30-8.

Hoji Tsuchiya (b. Tokyo, 1984) is an animator and visual artist who works in a unique style that utilizes paper cutting, collage and drawing. His short film "Black Long Skirt " was nominated for the Ottawa International Animation Festival (2011), and commercial projects such as the Pocari Sweat web movie "Scuffin's Song" won the D&AD Yellow Pencil (2024). His animations, such as the music videos for Nakayama Uri's "Spring time-old man" and SE SO NEON's "A Long Dream," and "Hattake-san" and "Planet Brothers" on the Japanese TV program NHK Educational"Shakin'!", have captivated audiences with their unique aesthetic. His drawings, which form the core of his animation, are characterized by vibrant colors, textures and playful character designs. He combines meticulous craftsmanship with quirky storytelling to create vivid, imaginative worlds.