Peace & Happiness

I did a commission of his 2 Bengal cats, and he recommended this clip to me. He was sure that I will find some semblance of truth in it… And I couldn’t agree more! So the clip below is an introductory guide to owning a playful cat, who in my case loves catching and chasing lizards, paper (crunched) balls, and his latest craze, a teddy bear key-chain which, when thrown at a fast pace resembled a mini furry creature scrambling for its dear life. Angel plays fetch of course, fetching you the above mentioned prey so that you can release it for its apparent pleasure.

The funny thing is that when we kept the teddy bear toy in a box, he would  ‘guard’ over it by pretending to sleep and flip on his back near the box, which inherently means sleeping on our notebook and pressing countless keys on the keyboard. Below are some of the “stills” of Angel.

Incidentally, Angel peed on the sofa bed so play

 

was suspended temporarily pending further investigation…

We were of course pretty angry with the “devil-in-disguise” angel, and he received some silent treatment from us. However, after some detective work, we concluded that it was done under duress. There were obviously two piles of shit, with one piece of the shitty business conducted earlier by Halo which was a tad ostentatious in terms of smell. The second piece of business was done in quite a bit of haste, with the last of his chocolate nuggets left on the step just before the exit of the covered litter box.

 

Angel at the remand centre

As I happened to wake up late in the day Angel, who I’m sure had vowed at the spur of the moment never to ever deal in that area, decided to take his business elsewhere. We were pretty upset with him, as this was the second time in two weeks. We have to strip the mattress and cushions, scrub and spray smell-curbing chemicals and personal cologne , sun (which is hard to come by in the last couple of days), and finally add a touch of Bengay cream (actually it’s for muscle ache) to sufficiently mask the stank of below-the-table business.

Angel relieved at the verdict

After serious deliberation, Angel was let off with a stern warning and found “not culpable in the first degree”. We were away for a few days in the first instance and hence not around to be his efficient toilet keepers. He got away the second time as it was quite evident that he was under considerable duress and accepted that it was all a case of bad timing.We also refrain from calling Halo as co-defendant for this smelly episode.

An original commissioned catmaSutra painting

 

called “peace and happiness”

for Truffles and Silky, aka Paul and Helen

Here’s Truffles…

 

It’s a great thing that in commissioning the painting,

they have decided to go for the catmaSutra cats

rather than straight portraits of their cats.

Silky and Truffles

It’s the spirit that matters…

 

Without the spirit,

there is nothing else…

Standing the test of time

The greatest thing a human soul ever does
in this world is to see something
and tell what he saw in a plain way.
To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion all in one.
~John Ruskin

Hundreds of thousands of impressions
from the invisible are wanting to come through you!I get dizzy with the abundance. When life
is this dear, it means the source is pulling us.

Freshness comes from there. We’re given the gift
of continuously dying and being resurrected.

catmaSutra cat art exhibition, From the Depths of My Lullaby:
Lotus Lullaby

He was an elderly fellow, tanned, sporting an earring, and carrying two bags, each sling across the shoulders. He walked with a limp towards us, but stopped half way as he spied a black and white cat in the furniture shop before the eatery. He made eye-contact with the cat and with his body gestures, which must be a language in itself to the cat, he strained to bend over, and putting his hand into one bag like a magician, he released a handful of dry colorful cat food pellets into a plastic bowl (seems like these two are already acquainted). Breaking into a little smile, he proceeded towards the eatery where I was eating my prawn noodle, and he started gesturing to the people in the eatery that he needed some money to feed himself. He went from table to table and met with the usual response. People averted their eyes and shook their heads. I’ve prepared a two dollar note and that would be my gift to him if he came by but he didn’t. Randomly, he moved from table to table and before long, limped away…

I’ve “met” a few cats in my time (especially as i started when I was a kid), in some alley or by the road side. It is a language without words, an understanding of our inherent natures, almost. There are, of course, cats who are afraid and ran off the minute you catch their attention. One can only imagine how the fear got into them. Then, there are those who recognize the language, and like many similar instances, I find myself sitting on the pavement by the roadside stroking a purring stray cat. I would then run off to some 7-11 and buy a packet of cat food. That was my chance meeting with a cat, and by this chance, the cat was going to get a tasty meal. What is interesting is that some of these cats are already quite well-fed and it was there spending time with you simply because it wanted to.There was one black and white cat at Empress place that I remember quite fondly as it loves to sit on the lap… It’s hard to leave them once you made the connection.

Our street cats

I have no name for what

purrs so perfectly

from out of our urban wild…

The elderly man was begging for food
and he feeds a stray on the street.

There is an understanding of
what it’s like to be on your own,

or what it’s like to be alone,

or what it’s like to be poor and old

Take your pick

the one that purrs on the street

purrs straight into

the poor little heart.

And only the ones with

the heart can see.

My colleague and I were walking back from lunch one day when we almost bump into an old lady. She was trying to sell tissue packets to passers-by. We walked past her but turned around. We gave her $2 each and asked her to go have a good meal. We didn’t need the tissue so we didn’t take any. She was surprised and stood motionless for a while before saying her thank yous. That was our chance meeting with the old lady, and by this chance, she was going to at least get a decent meal.

Reason has no way to say

its love. Only love opens

that secret.

If you want

to be more alive, love

is the truest health.

~Rumi

Freedom to choose

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress

can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Do we treat our animals well? How does our government view animals? If  I were to venture an answer, the answer would be they have no views. They are not significant enough unless they’re the cause (or suspected of being the cause) of an epidemic, or there are complaints from the ‘majority of Singaporeans’ (one of the favourite phrases that you’ll hear … We have grown a lot as a nation, and yet in many ways, we have not grown at all… Sometimes you wonder… A woman feeds a group of stray cats, and the most common comments you’ll hear is “Is this hygienic? Should we call the authorities?” There’re so many hit-and-run cases regarding cats that you wonder about the nature of people.

Ever occur to you why some of us can be

this much concerned with animals suffering?

Because government is not.  Why not?

Animals don’t vote.  ~Paul Harvey

Sat on my Ikea stool at the yard at 3 am, listening to music from my Ipod, eating sesame moon cake and drinking green tea, and talking philosophy (not much point with regard to politics). I think this phrase is true, ‘90% of what we feel is only our own interpretation’, meaning that we are all addicted or attached to something, and finding means and reasons to justify them. We are all addicts, one way or another, and it’s difficult to let go – to change one habit for another. It’s hard because we normally try to replace a bad habit with a good one. Makes you wonder how we pick up all these bad habits in the first place; it’s as if we are being subconsciously hypnotized (which may be true in more ways than one). Finished another painting today. It’s rather an experimental one, called the “color of yellow”. Slowing life down to exacting beauty. It’s a beautiful way to live when the present is all you have.

Angel, my blue Russian has taken an instant liking to a key-chain teddy bear that I brought home, and as we adjourned into the yard, he has taken upon himself to carry the teddy bear to near where we sat, half-looking at us, hoping that we’ll play catch again. Haha, he’s looking for it now although I have hid it before he pulls out the limbs…

peace

catmaSutra Artees

10% goes to Cat Welfare Society

With animals,

we have the freedom to choose…

to love, protect, care  OR to fear, hate, abuse

How we choose

determines the kind of person that we are.

Nothing goes away,

we get better or we get worse.

catmasutra video, interview with the Standard, Hong Kong

Don’t miss out if you’re in Hong Kong!Purrfect picture

Joyce Kam, The Standard, Hong Kong
Friday, July 03, 2009

Paul koh’s paintings are sure to put a smile on your face. Cats with ear-to-ear grins add a light-hearted touch to each of the acrylics in his CatmaSutra series, so named because it is meant to depict the different positions and attitudes of his signature animal.

“Through the years, the CatmaSutra cat has evolved its own story. It’s almost alive in its own way, snuggling into different situations and making itself comfortable at every instance,” said Koh, who has been working on the series since 2004.

“Its big smile, or the eyes-wide-shut and ear-to-ear grin, represents a deep- seated childhood innocence cum devil- may-care bravado.”

Koh’s latest artworks will debut at Harbour City’s Gallery by the Harbour in Tsim Sha Tsui tomorrow. The show, “From The Depths of My Lullaby,” will feature 25 paintings until July 28. The imperturbable cat is everywhere – stuck in a Chinese soup jar, sleeping on a lotus leaf or playing mahjong.

The quirky style in the paintings is based on the personality of Koh’s two pets, Halo and Angel. He reckons the series is as a gateway to a new space, a wonderland where emotions are innocent enough to run free, and dreams more than just make-believe.

At times, Koh pays tribute to the masters by having the cat sailing under the great wave of Katsushika Hokusai’s famous painting, taking a coffee break at Vincent Van Gogh’s yellow house and hanging on in a Piet Mondrian composition.

“It’s a way of immersing myself via the cat into the classic paintings I love. In the explorations, the cat is the navigator and we are hitchhikers, grateful for directions in a perfectly innocent and weightless realm,” said Koh.

Having grown up with cats his entire childhood, he finds his paintings were inspired by his association, friendship and understanding of the felines.

“The cats in my home were not house cats. They were free to roam wherever and whenever. They were independent individualists, and freedom was their modus operandi. Wherever they are, they seem capable of being happy,” he said.

The paintings are priced between HK$5,400 and HK$12,100, and there are collectibles such as tote bags, keepsake boxes and coasters.

Said Koh: “Honestly, it’s a bittersweet feeling when the paintings get sold. Each of them is dear to me as it is a tribute to a happy story that’ll put a smile on our faces. I grew up with cats and I hope each CatmaSutra painting rekindles a little of everything that we believe to be true as children.”

Date: July 4 to 28

Time: 11am to 9pm

Venue: Gallery by the Harbour
(Shop 207, Level 2, Ocean Center, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui)

Inquiry: 2118-0090

Free catmasutra cat art wallpaper

When Nature Calls (2008) Wallpaper

Get more Catmasutra wallpapers here

I have lost my rhythm and I was trying to find it back. It won’t come, of course. That’s not how rhythms work. It has to do its thing first. The journey is to find it back. We all do this one time or another (or maybe it’s just me for I can’t live on the surface of things). Like most things, when you look for it, it’s not there but when you’re ready (and perhaps not expecting it) it appears. I saw a little boy at the supermarket yesterday, standing still. Amidst the maddening crowd, this little kid was there holding up a single prawn with his fingers, slowly rotating and looking at it from different angles. I stood there for a while, watching him and I realized he was completely captivated by the prawn. It was almost as if he finally understood what a prawn really is. The mother returned with a disapproving look and sent him off to wash his hands – the real world beckons – there is no time for magic.

I sell magic beans ’cause I believe in them. It’s not something that you keep to yourself. There’s just no fun in that. Besides, it helps me to believe in them. See the eyes sparkle for an instant, feel the heart open a little – there’s the magic, however fleeting. Alas, if you’re like most people (or like Jack’s mother) you probably throw them away. There is no place for magic. I sell magic beans because one day when you look at your backyard, you may be able to see a huge beanstalk growing; and if you’re lucky enough you could even climb it, steal a glimpse above the clouds. It’s hard to believe in magic when no one else believes in it. Yet we all believe in it once upon a time.

Many times I’ve told myself not to sell magic beans anymore simply because there are no takers. What’s the point? Why do I care? There’re so many things on sale these days. No matter how many were bought, the shelves keep filling themselves up (almost like magic). Where do all these things go? If that’s not enough, we have the 24-hour Valium of the television to lose ourselves in.

“If everything I have become were not machine-made I
might be able to take the risk of being human with you.”
~Jeanette Winterson

Cat art collectibles & the Art of water from Catmasutra!

The Art of Water

New cat art collectibles from Catmasutra!

Collect all 5 elements from the catmaSutra ‘Enlightened Series’
(Highly recommended: the keepsake boxes, tile coasters, and framed tiles!)

Many an artist have been inspired by the gentle beauty of water. Aaron Lye (for PURE magazine Oct-Dec 2008) talks to artist PAUL KOH about how water inspires him in his art.

The Art of Water.

Many an artist have been inspired by the gentle beauty of water. Aaron Lye (for PURE magazine Oct-Dec 2008) talks to artist PAUL KOH about how water inspires him in his art.

So Paul. Tell us a bit about yourself. I have always been interested in drawing since I was a kid. I have no idea where that inclination comes from, but I always preferred looking at pictures and drawing them rather than reading books. Of course, the belief then as is now, is that art has no viable career path. It took me a long time to come back to it, and as it happened, I started work as an editor for a publisher of children’s books, and that opened my eyes to a rich and multi-layered world of illustration and magic. I started clamoring to do some of the illustrations, and in my next job, I got involved with web design. That’s when I knew this is where I want to be. They’re two different things, art and design, but they belong to the same family tree.

How did you first find yourself getting into art? Where did your love for painting come from?
It’s a natural inclination. I’m the only one in my family who has this passion. As a child, I’m already very visual. It’s a more emotional and direct way of expression, especially when you have a vivid imagination. I think drawing or art has a more direct relationship with imagination. When you are using your imagination, you’re more likely to think in pictures than words. Even now, I don’t really ‘read’ magazines but ‘consume’ the emotional content of the images. So my love for painting comes from this desire to make my imaginings come true, so to speak.

I understand you’ve experimented with a unique, abstract style of painting that makes use of water. How did this start? Where did the inspiration come from? Can you describe the process of working in this style? When I was working on “Fluid Abstractions”, it was a platform for me to become more intimate with the act of painting. You become an extension to the painting process. As you delve deeper and deeper into an art piece, you begin to explore your relationship with it. Brushes are used as whips, hands as brushes, water as paints. The spontaneity becomes important; the ‘natural’ way in which each painting reveals itself becomes the source of inspiration and creativity. Water – its fluidity – becomes central in developing this series. One of the inspirations comes from trying to fuse Chinese ink brush paintings with abstract art.

In your opinion, what is it about this particular style that makes it stand out from more traditional methods of painting? It alludes to the mysterious space between matter and spirit. There is a gap separating the intent of the artist, and the spontaneous manifestation of the paints on the canvas. It is a very intuitive mode of painting even though it can be frustrating. It can take you round and round until you are able to find it in yourself to say that it is finally finished, that it has reached an agreement with your heart and emotions.

Do you still use this technique in your paintings today? Has it influenced your later works in any way? I still use certain techniques in my later works. It becomes part of my repertoire of adding depth and texture, especially the pattern and flow of water.

Tell us a bit about your more current works – the Catmasutra series of paintings. Well, I have been illustrating since young, and growing up with cats means that my two passions seem destined to be linked together. And it did – when my first painting of a happy cat was sold in 2003 from the exhibition, Project Mooch. The first Catmasutra exhibition in 2004 was a sold out, and the series developed from there. For me, Catmasutra is about telling a happy story, a reminder to see the positive side of things, and even possibly the magic in between. I take stuff that we commonly come into contact through our surroundings, the media, etc. and present a moment in a story that is personal and yet universal. I’m fascinated with the flow of energy that vibrates in between, that blurs the line between reality and myth, between the power of everyday and the power of imagination. I conceptualize Catmasutra as part of this in-between world. The “eyes-wide-shut” and irrepressible “ear-to-ear” grins of the cats are representative of this energy – that in spite of life’s imperfections, there is always a positive side, good enough for a smile!

I’ve noticed that quite a few of your Catmasutra paintings feature water scenes. Any particular reason for this? I love the spontaneity and fluidity of water. This was evident in the Fluid Abstraction series and this follows through to the Catmasutra series. Personally, I love the sky and rain. Water has a calming effect, rain a redemptive quality and sky, freedom. These are the most beautiful things and they are always here with us. Perhaps that’s why, inadvertently these elements find their way into many of my paintings.

What do you usually do for inspiration for your art? I get my inspiration from everywhere, magazines, movies, art, design, illustration, popular culture, etc. There are a myriad of energies all around us, so we can tap into these energies, distill them and re-energise them in a way that works for ourselves. In essence, there’s beauty and freshness everywhere once we choose to see it.

Where’s your favourite water-related location in Singapore? In the world? I love Marina Bay, especially the view from the highest point of the ECP, where the city looms in front, flanked by the bay and sea beyond. As for the world, it has to be Venice. It has a unique colour, a reflective luminance unlike any other city.

Catmasutra Painting Exhibition – Imagine-Nation!

Catmasutra presents Imagine-Nation, another quirky and irreverent
painting show coming your way this August!
www.catmasutra.com

About the exhibition…

Singapore is considered one of the most efficient countries in the world. Just as this systematic efficiency has brought us success, it has also left an indelible imprint on our subconscious, where “truth” is seen and valued in terms of a prescribed path to success and happiness. This exhibition, “Imagine-Nation” asks us to look within instead, to listen to our own thoughts for a change, and plant these thoughts and consciously choose the path that we really want to take. Inherently, it attempts to expose our collective delusions about the”pre-programmed” nature of our life, and the prescribed notions on the best way to live…

Using the Catmasutra cats in social and surreal settings, this collection aims to provoke thoughts about our lives in our urbanized city in a quirky and irreverent way. References from popular and local culture are used and weaved as a counterpoint in each painting. The essence of the Catmasutra cats is based on their eyes-wide-shut, ear-to-ear grin, which translates to a deep-seated childhood innocence cum devil-may-care bravado, with a healthy dosage of self-belief and unpretentiousness… This serves as an anchor for all of Catmasutra paintings…

CATMASUTRA : IMAGINE-NATION

6th – 17th AUGUST 2008
@ FORTH GALLERY
69A pagoda street

Opening Hours:
Tuesday to Sunday 1130am to 7pm
Monday and public holidays by appt only

More about the new paintings soon…

Free wall paper for catmasutra painting, Clouds 9

Free wallpaper: 1280 x 1024 | 1280 x 800

“When you realize how perfect everything is,
you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky“
- Gautama Siddharta.

This is the premise of “Cloud 9″ a Catmasutra painting done in the 2006 exhibition. As this catmasutra cat knows, the purpose of life is to climb the sky and find a great big Cumulus cloud to sleep in. So use this wallpaper as a reminder to put a smile on your face, and if you don’t feel like it , just visualize floating and lying on one of those fluffy incarnations in the sky wahahaha!

“We had the sky up there,
and we used to lay on our backs
and look up at them,
and discuss whether
they was made or just happened”
- Mark Twain

Well, that to a degree, reflects my fascination with the sky. And strangely enough, it is the cat that taught me how to appreciate the sky. Remembering as a child in the yard of my grandma’s house, lying on the bleached dry cemented floor, watching the wet clothes swaying, half revealing and half waving the clouds goodbye, like a peek-a-boo of sorts. It all started with a promise made with the cat, that when we meet here in the yard, we would just stretch out and do nothing; we would watch the sky, enjoy the moment till one of us decides to call it a day. I kept wondering how wide the sky is as you can see it curve away down below you and beyond. And you wonder if it is the same sky on the other side.

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west;
people create distinctions out of their own minds
and then believe them to be true.” – - Gautama Siddharta.

Catmasutra Time Travel – Apple on The inside

Get this art print! 

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Came across this quote by Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkeggard, and it captured me for a while, stopped the tracks of the present from becoming the future, so to speak. Started searching the phrase and I ended up with a number of quotes regarding time and the future. Ever wondered what’ll happen if you receive a notice that says: “Tomorrow has been cancelled. The day after tomorrow has been postponed and will now occur on the following day.” And suddenly you have an extended Present that refuses to flow into Tomorrow (Think Groundhog day) and if we live without expectations, then there’s no future, only an endless present (François Jacob).

“Although the future will never happen, it is already here: no matter how fast you run after it, the future will run just as fast. It is always around the next corner. If you pause to catch your breath, the future will pause too, waiting for you, just around the corner, out of sight. But how can it know you so well, when you don’t know it? “

Or according to The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, the Future is defined as “that period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true, and our happiness assured.” Or as a riddle by Joseph Cornish, what does not exist and never has existed, yet is our most precious possession, because it is all we have left?

Perhaps a quote by the Mexican Poet, Octavio Paz is apt at this time, “The supreme value is not the future but the present. The future is a deceitful time that always says to us, ‘Not Yet,’ and thus denies us… Whoever builds a house for future happiness builds a prison for the present.”

Apple on the Inside is from the second Catmasutra painting exhibition and where time collapses into a single point of inactivity, caught “in-between” time- it’s right there, just an apple on the inside…

Catmasutra painting – Afternoon tea

Get this print at Image Kind!

This painting, completed for the Catmasutra II exhibition weaves the Catmasutra cat in and around Chinese culture! Singapore being such an urbanized city, it’s easy to get carried away with all the modernity and cultural imperialism of Western culture. But somehow, everything always returns to its origin after making a cycle or several cycles. Haha I think growing up with Chinese martial arts flicks had created more of an impression than studying Mandarin in school! Jiǔ is the Chinese word for all alcoholic beverages, with the same character used in Japanese (pronounced sake) and Korean (pronounced ju), and it is one beverage commonly found in martial arts flicks (notably Drunken Fist, Drunken Monkey, etc haha). Jiǔ also had a great impact on Chinese artists as many of the masterpieces were created in states of drunkenness! (hmmm… what was I drinking when I was painting this?) The Saint of Calligraphy , Xizhi was unable to outdo his most outstanding work, “Orchid Pavilion Prologue” because that piece was completed when he was drunk! wahahaha! And Chinese tea, it’s an art and let’s just say I have to catch up with my heritage… in a big way!

I also remember as a kid visiting the neighborhood Chinese medicine shop, and being fascinated with the huge chest of tiny drawers all containing different kinds of herbs. I’m always surprise how by matching different herbs together, you can produce the same compounds in western medicine, but in a more holistic way. Chinese medicine views the body and nature as an inseparable unit, as is the relationship between different organs, tissues, senses, etc. The philosophy behind it is based on Taoist concepts of Yin and Yang, and the aim is to restore harmony or balance to the body. It’s funny that I became interested in the ideas of Taoism only when I was studying in Canada!

Of course, there is the famous Huang Fei Hong movie in 1990, the legendary Chinese folk hero, a great martial arts exponent as well as a healer (with chest upon chest of medicine drawers, haha) . I remember walking down Chinatown in Vancouver and was immediately intrigued by the movie poster. Being a sucker for the martial arts genre (which had been dead since the early 80’s), the poster was refreshingly calm, quiet, full of confidence and controlled energy, and indeed, the movie heralded the revival of the genre. It was a big hit then and relaunched the period martial arts drama. The next revival of sorts was “Storm Riders” followed by “Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger”. Hopefully, the next breakthrough will re-define the genre further.

Take a break.
Have some Chinese tea.
Then get drunk on Maotai
(that’s really quite disgusting, actually)