“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.”

“Kazuhiko Kawahara AKA Palla is a former architect who uses photography, landscape and architecture to make compelling kaleidoscopic images. He could easily have a career based solely on his photography but pursues symmetry to find beauty in claustrophobic Asian urban settings. His work with Japanese landscape and the sea are firmly located within Japan’s artistic reverence for landscape, whether it be Zen gardens, landscape painting or Utagawa Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e whirlpool prints. Palla’s acknowledgement of urbanism recasts the late twentieth century attitudes of Japanese disgust with industrialization and development in a more productive and accepting light, allowing us to see the beauty in his complex, layered imagery of surging, vital cities.” by Shane Wiggs

PALLALINK

Artists’ collective led by PALLA
A group of creatives from diverse fields, including:
HIGASHIONJI Masaki – film and video creator, graphic designer
NISHIKAWA Bunsho – sound engineer, guitarist
INOUE Hideko – stained glass artist
TANAKA Otokichi – architect, product designer
SUGIHARA Naoki – sound artist
…and others

PALLA / KAWAHARA Kazuhiko

Born in 1969.
Earned a degree in architecture from Osaka City University.
Worked in architectural design for ten years.
Visual artist, working across photography, video, 3D computer graphics, and spatial design.

Awards

  • 2007  The Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art
    岡本太郎現代芸術賞 入選
  • 2006  Excellence Award, New Cosmos of Photography
    「写真新世紀 優秀賞」 by Canon Inc.

Exhibitions

Publication

  • 2004 Catalogue “The book of pallalink”
  • 2009 DVD Catalogue “PALLALINK EXHIBITION & LIVE”

Press