Pallalink - twisted symmetrie photographs

21 Dec 2006 Category: Architecture, Features, Japan, Photography

Pallalink - twisted symmetrie photographs

a very dynamic composition based on one single architectural photograph

Kazuhiko Kawahara - called Palla - is an artist from Osaka. He originally studied architecture and worked as an architect for 10 years but then gradually got more and more into photographing architecture and transforming these photos to reveal the patterns hidden in modern cities. Palla started his weblog Pallalink.net in 2002 where he posts his pictures, layering and shifting them under the influence of his online audience’s comments - a journey into rich cityscape structures. Visiting his website and browsing around his archives is a must! Here are some of his most beautiful images, some comments on the projects he is currently working on and moreover how he creates those stunning compositions.

Writen by Uleshka

wall5 - composision based on 4 layers

high contrast bicycle composition

Palla, how would you explain your web project Pallalink.net? How would you define your images?

The images on Pallalink.net show my development ranging back from 2002 until now, exposing my most recent works, recently also some movies. I’m continually updating images on the site and anybody can post comments, even though the work is still in the process. That is the essential point of it! Many of the works are actually based on those comments - or at least I was considering people’s thoughts while creating and transforming my pictures. So you could basically say that the works or even Pallalink.net itself was not created by myself or my intention solely, but by the internet community. You might actually call Pallalink.net - said domain on the internet - an “artist” itself.

shearing4

One of his older works playing with the slight discomfort of shifting only certain parts of an image in order to create this unusual view from a normal car park.

modifications within buildings themselves

Sharing ideas is an important “driving force for communication” on the internet. I believe that web sites as a medium have stronger possibilities than ever to create new fields of artwork.

On your site there is a link to one lecture, which describes the process of how you started taking simple pictures and mirroring them, shifting, rotating them in fixed angles etc. It almost seems like a scientific research, as if you were trying to get ‘behind’ architecture, behind what we usually see and perceive in the streets. What are you actually looking for in your work?

The concept of my present work is ‘found’. I don’t know what the purpose of this work is, but by continuing the process I know that I will always “find” something amazing.


highway47 composition

highway4 - one of my personal favorites of many stunning highway compositions

To me, your works appear like proofs that those random constructions by people in the city are actually part of a larger pattern. So what is this “process” you are talking about then? How do you actually compose those images?

I’m actually working on a moving images series for my upcoming exhibition at Remo in Osaka. So my newer work contains some movies, too. Still, all compositions shown are based on one picture only. Some stills of one of my movies demonstrate the process quite well:

1. Steps of transformation: This is the original photo.

Starting from one original image I duplicate the layer, rotate, or flip it over. I then set the channel of the composition layer to “bright” or “dark” and shift it slowly until I see some interesting image.

2. This is a set of two mirrored images - a two-layered composition.

Sometimes I repeat this process with completed images. The key of this process is to use only one image and also never to shift it randomly.

3. This is a half turned set of a composition. On the whole this is made of four layers of the same photo.

Looks easy, doesn’t it? The point is just where you stop!

4. Another example of the same set. Moving, setting and composition are different. This image consists of 8 photos.

By making it symmetrical I confront the natural with the mechanical, the artificial. Architecture in itself is made entirely by people to be used and controlled by people. It is artificial. However, when people come and gather, it becomes like a city, a living organism and the situation transforms into something more natural. My works contain both those artificial and natural components. I’m attracted by the dynamism of the change from a simple form to a complicated organism.


a highway and a truck…

…transform into a mysterious theatrical space

highway composition

Your internet community is the foundation of your work. You also published some books and distributed those to Pallalink fans. It is fascinating to flip through the pages of your books and watch single images transform into unexpected compositions. Are you planning to do more books in the future?

I don’t really have any plans for books in the near future, but if there is an opportunity, then I will. Two years ago I gathered people who wanted a book of my collections through the internet and 50 books were produced with people’s donations. So now my works are owned by people all over the world, even some in Argentina. It’s almost like a little open source publication. I really enjoyed it.

from a series of blurred compositions

You just took part in the Canon New Cosmos of Photography Exhibition 2006 supporting new talented photographers from Japan and abroad. What can we expect of you in the near future? Any new exhibitions or collaborations planned?

I’m going to have an exhibition called “Artist pick up: Ayako Yoshimura - Palla: From photography to moving images: Cityscape” at Remo in Osaka from 12th January to 18th February 2007. The main work shown there will consist of movies.

At Palla’s exhibition in 2005 - huge prints were mounted on curved screens.

The curved screens create a tunnel of strange perspectives.

Incredible three-dimensionality achieved in this cityscape installation at Palla’s exhibition, view more images here.

It is hasn’t been fixed yet but we might do a collaboration project with the open source movie project “A Swarm of Angels”. This is actually the most interesting thing for me right now.

Anything else you would like to say?

On my weblog I demonstrated the process of how an “artist” is born. Weblog communities create artists = that’s what Palla is! I really thank everyone who left comments on Pallalink.net.

roads, a composition from the ‘Found’ series

wall7 - a very earthy-feel composition of Palla’s ‘Found’ series

Palla in Osaka

Palla, thank you for your wonderful compositions! There were so many incredible images on your site - I had a hard time choosing! Have a look at Palla’s archives - those images can never be big enough! Watch his style evolving from early works up to now revealing the hidden patterns and beauties in everyday Japanese cityscapes.

28 Comments

  1. A simple image can be tranformed into an incredible work.
    Keep it up Palla

    Posted by: Paavani on December 22nd, 2006 at 3:32 am

  2. My eyes have been twisted and my vision has been tied around my computerscreen with a tight knot.
    Keep it up, eyecatching Uleshka!

    Posted by: bruno"suppe"winter on December 22nd, 2006 at 7:30 am

  3. Fantastic images, the huge curved canvases are great!

    Posted by: john on December 22nd, 2006 at 8:14 am

  4. Great discovery and good interview and presentation. Thanks! I just posted a link to this article in the lensculture blog: http://www.lensculture.com/mt_files/archives/000092.html

    Cheers!

    Posted by: Jim Casper on December 23rd, 2006 at 2:19 am

  5. [...] 3 articles en forme d’entretiens à noter sur pingmag. Le photographe Joe Nishizawa en exploration des sous-terrains de Tokyo et centrales nucléaires high-techs. Dans un style tout à fait opposé, la photographe Rinko Kawauchi nous présentent ses couleurs quotidiennes à travers 10 questions. Finalement, pingmag nous présente un peu plus Pallalink.net (aka Kazuhiko Kawahara), un site que je suis depuis longtemps pour ses formidables symetries tournantes-superposées-compliquées à base de photographies urbaines. (les 3 photos de l’assemblage hétéroclite ci-dessus sont dans l’ordre Joe Nishizawa, de Rinko Kawauchi et de Kazuhiko Kawahara) [...]

    Posted by: Made In Tokyo » Photos et Musiques à voir on December 27th, 2006 at 7:26 am

  6. Wow ! Thanks for this article, it was very inspiring. I think i am going to follow the work of Palla.

    Posted by: Thierry on December 31st, 2006 at 10:17 pm

  7. [...] Or read an interview in Pingmag. [...]

    Posted by: Nouknouk » Kazuhiko Kawahara (alias Palla), artist from Osaka on January 15th, 2007 at 9:38 am

  8. your works are amazing. thank you for your life and art.

    Posted by: sheehan demetillo on January 23rd, 2007 at 10:51 pm

  9. [...] attracted by the dynamism of the change from a simple form to a complicated organism. [from the interview with Palla at [...]

    Posted by: arch.mnp » Blog Archive » Pallalink : Twisted Symmetrie Photographs on February 26th, 2007 at 10:52 pm

  10. This is some excellent inspiration! Wonderful art by Palla. Great article Uleshka!

    Posted by: Richie on February 27th, 2007 at 6:49 am

  11. [...] http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/12/21/pallalink-twisted-symmetrie-photographs-2/ [...]

    Posted by: Palla at BLARG! on February 27th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

  12. [...] PingMag | Pallalink - twisted symmetrie photographs “By making it symmetrical I confront the natural with the mechanical, the artificial. Architecture… is artificial. However, when people come and gather, it becomes like a city, a living organism and the situation transforms into something more natural.” (tags: architecture mashup urban cut-up word-falling photo-falling new-angel-city) [...]

    Posted by: Brian Kerr | links for 2007-02-27 on February 27th, 2007 at 4:26 pm

  13. Great work.
    I especially loved to see someone sharing & explainig his work process as opposed to not reveiling it for the sake of keeping it seriously (!) artistic.

    Posted by: David on February 27th, 2007 at 6:01 pm

  14. [...] moving images: Cityscape”. Wer wissen möchte wie das mit seinen Bildern funktioniert bekommt im pingmag einen kleinen [...]

    Posted by: Pallalink - Verdreht symmetrische Fotografie :Studio5555 on February 28th, 2007 at 1:32 am

  15. [...] (fonte, con tante altre immagini) [...]

    Posted by: il figlio segreto di bdf’s world! » Architetture e simmetrie… on February 28th, 2007 at 5:37 am

  16. these are awesome. i especially love the highway structures. i also have a taste for high contrast photos, i’ll be trying this later.

    Posted by: loon on February 28th, 2007 at 8:59 am

  17. [...] sehr, sehr schön und eben dann doch nicht ’schon gesehen’: pallalink bzw.: gefunden über’s pingmag. [...]

    Posted by: despektierlich » Blog Archive » pallalink - architekturfotografie on February 28th, 2007 at 7:19 pm

  18. [...] Pallalink - twisted symmetrie. Really cool photography -remixed into a wonderful kaleidoscope of the urban crawl. [...]

    Posted by: the adventures of teapot the cat » Pallalink - twisted symmetrie on March 7th, 2007 at 4:11 am

  19. [...] ++ An interview at PingMag. [...]

    Posted by: gravestmor » Palla : : architectural ephemera on March 15th, 2007 at 2:43 pm

  20. Very interesting work
    Feel free to submit this to http://www.photographyvoter.com

    Posted by: Paul on April 30th, 2007 at 11:15 pm

  21. [...] Mai multe puteti afla de pe siteul lui - Pallalink, sau din interviul acordat celor de la PingMag. Filed under Uncategorized, foto having Leave a [...]

    Posted by: savedem.ro » Blog Archive » FOTO| Pallalink on May 18th, 2007 at 12:28 am

  22. amazing!

    Posted by: Evani on December 20th, 2007 at 8:32 pm

  23. me inspiriro demasiado…

    Posted by: Anonymous on January 4th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

  24. [...] palla / from osaka, japan. March 31, 2008 http://www.pallalink.net/ palla link description [...]

    Posted by: palla / from osaka, japan. « simon king ma on April 24th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

  25. [...] His compositions are each based on single images. He uses symmetry to “confront the natural with the mechanical, the artificial.” [...]

    Posted by: Palla’s Japanese Cityscapes « think demux on February 9th, 2009 at 10:50 pm

  26. Good to have bumped onto your blog and met you.

    Posted by: sikiş on April 22nd, 2010 at 11:59 pm

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  28. wow

    Posted by: Anonymous on August 25th, 2010 at 5:18 pm

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