two fish, out of water

paul kohlphotographs from the japanese landscape

two fish, out of water

Paul Kohl“Two Fish, Out of Water”16 January - 28 February 2009Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Project Director & EditorHasnul Jamal Saidon

Design ConceptPaul Kohl & Mohd Firdaus Khairuddin

Curatorial AssistantsZolkurnian Hassan, Mohd Firdaus Khairuddin, Aizuan Azmi, Nur Hafizah Ab. Aziz, Nor Mohammad Abd Rahim, T. C. Liew

Technical AssistantsShamsul Ikhmal Mansori, Noordin Ban, Rosli Hamzah, Muhammad Husni Abd. Latiff, Mohamad Yazdi Yaacop, Izrul Abd. Aziz, Noor Rashid Shabidi

Publication AssistantsNor Laila Abd. Rozak@Razak, Safinawati Samsudin

Financial AssistantRohayah Sanapi

Promotion & PublicityNurul Ashikin Shuib, Azizi Yahya, Adlan Redzuan, Salim Ibrahim

General SupportAfzanizam Mohd Ali, Radhiyah Abu Bakar, Salmiah Mohamad, Faridah Hashim, Ravi Vansamy

Online Exhibitionhttp://mgtf.usm.my/exhibit.php

Muzium & Galeri Tuanku FauziahUniversiti Sains Malaysia11800 USMPulau Pinang, Malaysia.Tel : 604 653 3888 (Ext. 3261) Fax : 604 656 3531Website : http://www.mgtf.usm.my

© 2009 Paul Kohl and Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia. All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced except for the purpose of research, critism and review, without prior permision from the artist and publisher.

ISBN 978-983-43926-2-81. Universiti Sains Malaysia. Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah-- Catalogs2. Arts Museums--Catalogs. 3. Art Museums--Exhibitions.I. Universiti Sains Malaysia. Muzium dan Galeri Tuanku Fauziah.II. Title.708.9595

Kohl, PaulTwo Fish, Out of Water : photographs from the japanese landscape / Paul Kohl

For my wife, Izumi, and my two sons, Issaku and Jiro.

Contents

Forewordby Paul Kohl

Plates

Biodata

The rice shoots have just been planted. They are a green mist over the dark water in the paddies. The frogs are loud at night. The needle-beaked egrets strut and stab. The black head of the rat snake weaves through the spiked shoots. It is all strange to me. For now, it is the pleasure of this dislocation on which I feed and which nourishes these pictures. I have realized, though, I would make the same pictures wherever I was. I can’t blame the Japanese. The landscape is internal. The dislocation is permanent.

Paul Kohl

Politics and Religion62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Truck Sprite62 cm x 55 cmOsaka, Japan.

Sleeping Man62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Asian Seduction62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Love Dance62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

The Weight62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

The Smoker62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Window Dressing62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Our Lady of the Mall62 cm x 55 cmOsaka, Japan.

Suits, Sakura and Kimono62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

White Tabi62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Mountain Man62 cm x 55 cmRyoko, Japan.

Black Head62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Woman Walking62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Mother’s Medicine (Kutsuri)62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

The Visitor62 cm x 55 cmKyoto, Japan.

What’s Left62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Still Life62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Nature Mort62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

My Guru62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Bunny Love62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Abandoned62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

The Watcher62 cm x 55 cmTokyo, Japan.

Empty Pockets62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Trimmed62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Sakura over Sewer62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Cherry Coke62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Flame Plant62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Trees, Pole, Smog62 cm x 55 cmOsaka, Japan.

Sand, Lantern, Trees62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Temple Wood62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

The Trimmers62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Burnt62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Drowned Bike62 cm x 55 cmNakasho, Japan.

Dirty Book II62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Wall, Light, Box62 cm x 55 cmKyoto, Japan.

The Invitation62 cm x 55 cmOsaka, Japan.

The Treasure62 cm x 55 cmOsaka, Japan.

The Last Car62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

The Brothers 62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Spectator Sport62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Divided Car62 cm x 55 cmUno, Japan.

Success62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Protection62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Abandoned II62 cm x 55 cmKobe, Japan.

Cloud/Stairs62 cm x 55 cmOsaka, Japan.

Sea Wall62 cm x 55 cmUno, Japan.

Vertical Abstraction62 cm x 55 cmOkayama, Japan.

Paul Kohl is an American photographer who has spent many years teaching and making images in Asia, especially in Japan. He is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute (BFA/Photography) and Purdue University (MA/Media Studies). He was a past Chairman of the Photography Department at the Maryland Institute, College of Art. While there, he was also the Chairman of the Faculty, Faculty Ombudsman and won the “Distinguished Teacher” Award. He has taught several years in Japan. He won a National Endow-ment for the Arts Photographer’s Grant, Maryland State Arts Council Grants and several faculty grants that have allowed him to pursue his interest in 21st. Century printing techniques.

To further that passion, he has studied digital printing with John Paul Caponigro and Jon Cone at Cone Editions. He was a Master Printer for the Singapore International Photography Festival and now teaches workshops in Digital Fine Art Printing in Southeast Asia.

Besides the workshops, he is a Visiting Professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore where he teaches both analog and digital photography in the School of Art, Design and Media. His prints are part of the permanent collections of several museums including the Fogg Museum and the San Francisco MoMA.

One of the enduring influences on his life and work has been his practice of the martial arts. He has a Black Belt in Aikido and has also done Tai Chi and Jodo ( Japanese wooden Staff ). “That work has taught me the importance of energized, passionate awareness. I try to live as if my hair is on fire”.

This work was all photographed using Fuji Neopan 400 black and white film

and was developed in Rodinal, the venerable Agfa film developer. The grain is

certainly visible but it is so sharp! I have loved grain since I began photography.

It is, for me, crystalized light and is intrinsic to my pictures.

The camera for all this work was a Konica-Minolta Rangefinder. It is a great

machine: small, fast and very tough.

Prints of this work are available by contacting me at my email address which you

can find on my web site:

http://www2.gol.com/users/pkohl

Paul Kohl