Inside an old warehouse of a paper strip manufacturing plant owned and formerly operated by her family, Chie Hitotsuyama crafts sculptures of wildlife, which are often life-size, in hermakeshift studio. By wetting, twisting, rolling, folding, and stacking paper, the artist compels an unlikely material out of newspaper. The ongoing effort is formally titled Hitotsuyama Studio, consisting of Hitotsuyama and the project’s creative director, Tomiji Tamai.
The artist has shown these works across the world, with solo exhibitions in Tokyo, Okinawa, and Los Angeles. At a recent exhibition at Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles, titled “Paper Trails,” the artist offers insight into her process: “At a recent exhibition at Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles, titled “Paper Trails,” the artist offers insight into her process: “When a piece of paper is rolled up, it increases in strength, and by gluing together one by one and side by side, I can carefully form contours and curves with each single string. These single strings, collected together, consequently become the surface of an objects. And eventually, a shape or a form of an object appears.”
Newspapers are released out into the world and throw away every day, while carrying memories, the artist says. In these works, we find our own cycles mirrored.
Chie Hitotsuyama "Paper Trails" from Ayako Hoshino on Vimeo.