Things that make you go hmm 🤔

[rockm]

I appreciate Nick's work for its originality. Though some of his work is avant-garde, most of it was very traditional. And I'm not sure that all of his creative stuff worked... but I appreciate that he challenged convention... 30 years ago. However most of his compositions really incorporated the tree and the item very closely.

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At the end of the day, I define bonsai as "tree as hero". The tree itself should be the focus of the composition, with the pot complementing it. If you want to add characters or other elements in a broader display, that's fine - as long as they add to, instead of detract from, the overall display. If you have a tree/statue combination and people spend more time looking at the statue than the tree... that's not bonsai.

I have to agree with all of this. Some of Lenz' stuff is plain silly (which was his intention mostly). You have to give him credit even for the sillier stuff. He made almost all the "incorporated" things in his plantings with his own two hands and a kiln. the trees in them were extremely well done with an expert hand --not to mention a lot of TIME, decades in some cases...

I guess what I find most, well, not objectionable, but questionable, is the overall quality of the tree kicker. It looks amateurish, like it belongs next to a set of mail order Katanas...The tree is only kind of adequate with no real work done on it...The figure is dynamic and out of place mostly. Shiwan figures can be used quite effectively when thoughtfully applied. This piece from Yee Sun Wu's gift to the arb has always been a favorite. The tree is the "champion" of the composition, the figure is supporting cast (but a solid support, evoking sound and mood, not overly smashing it in your face as the kicker literally does). Subtle speaks more loudly than obvious...

 

[penumbra]

I guess what I find most, well, not objectionable, but questionable, is the overall quality of the tree kicker. It looks amateurish, like it belongs next to a set of mail order Katanas...The tree is only kind of adequate with no real work done on it...The figure is dynamic and out of place mostly.

Completely agree but it still greatly amuses me.

 

[Gustavo Martins]

I've seen them kick large trees, small trees, and banana trees. Banana trees are usually kicked to the point they fall over or break at the kicking point.

That’s because bananas are not trees. They are herbs.

 

[Wulfskaar]

I like the Kung Fu statue! It probably helps that I enjoy old Kung Fu movies.

Does everything need to be a serious work of art? I think of stuff like that as being more like a comic than a Rembrandt, which are both art in totally different forms. Is the Kung Fu statue silly? Sure it is, but I have plenty of room for silliness.

I don't think the creator of the Kung Fu bonsai is claiming it's high quality and ready for show. It is what it is and it's fun enough for me to like it.

 

[TinyArt]

I say we send the Kung Fu kicker over to meet @moke's Carnivorous

 

[moke]

I say we send the Kung Fu kicker over to meet @moke's Carnivorous

Hell yeah!!! Tree fight!!! I’m sure it’s not legal so we’ll have to take it to an old barn or alley somewhere.

 

[Pitoon]

That’s because bananas are not trees. They are herbs.

Yes...yes....I know, but people call them banana trees.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Once again, "It all depends". If the figures are used to accentuate the tree, and it works, then all is still not forgiven, take my word for it. Here, a Tamarack forest is made to look as majestic as possible, and the figures give some know entities as something to scale the forest in the viewer's eye. With the figures in-place the trees look like giants rather than just nice trees. The figures are HO railroad scale six deer on the left and six black bear on the right. You can't really see them in the photos...

 

[doctorater]

It looks bad for the kicker, but I have it on good authority that the tree started it.

 

[HankDio]

From a purely technical standpoint, it isn't a good bonsai, and it isn't "root over" anything.

However some people really get into including figures with trees. I laughed at @rockm 's comment because we've talked about people before who do car wreck bonsai. The first time it was done it was funny. After that it just became trite. In this composition, the tree isn't there to do anything other than compliment the statue. It is simply a background element. You could remove the tree entirely and it wouldn't change things much. Remove the statue, and the tree becomes a bad stick in a pot.

Perhaps I am a snob, but I wouldn't normally keep kung fu statues around the house, and therefore the whole thing has no appeal for me.

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One of my favorite windswept tree images has what appears to be a skyline of Hong Kong in the background. I didn't even notice it until I had had the image for a long time - I just assumed they were rocks. I think the Hong Kong skyline detracts from the composition - versus adding to it.

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I won't say I completely disagree, but while a separate thing entirely from bonsai an interesting precept of suiseki is that a stone should suggest a setting, object, animal, basically something that isn't a stone. This straddles the line with a basalt-like structure which I find pleasing but I can't certainly see the literalist aspect of it.