We can talk endlessly about how a RMJ with gnarly deadwood symbolizes life’s tenacity, but these themes usually have to be explicitly told to anyone who isn’t familiar with bonsai. Like calligraphy, bonsai often speaks through understated subtlety, harmony, which finds much resonance in the East. But these nuances are not a priority in Western culture. We often prize bold “message” pieces that shock the viewer with emotion, and bonsai, perceived as a craft here, does not meet that mark. To be blunt, if you’re an average person, even one artistically inclined, the Kokufu prize tree looks and conveys the same message as the best in show in PBE or Europe’s Trophy. You’d have a hard time distinguishing Bjorn’s trees from Shinji Suzuki or Kimura’s. Walter Pall or Ryan’s might look a little different, but the theme is similar enough across any of their trees. “Savor this tree’s [harmony/grandeur/starkness] and nature’s beauty that I have teased out with my technical skill.” Not to say this isn’t a worthy message in and of itself, but I would venture that it is the only expression that bonsai as an art form currently captures and conveys. We only represent and interpret.
IMHO if you want to expand the appeal, expand the art itself. Embrace ways to express that go beyond the natural shape of the tree and the form of its container. Cut 6 yamadori with a chainsaw and leave their raw, dead stumps around one formal upright. Sculpt and paint deadwood in a recognizable figure that still respects the medium’s lines above a bowing stage of foliage. Embrace multimedia in the setting. Is grief a theme in bonsai? Has there ever been a “political” message? Or an assertive opinion about man’s relationship to nature, rather than the reverent respect for the latter that characterizes every bonsai in every master’s garden? These are drastic departures from how we currently create bonsai, but remain either unexplored or taboo.
Executed without mastering the skills demanded for classical/traditional bonsai, such ideas would come off as cheap and infantile, like the banana duct taped to a wall a few years back (still debatable as to whether or not that was art). But put someone skilled to the task and I think the result could both be phenomenally powerful and uniquely American. This land is a marketplace of ideas and a melting pot of cultures - we can do differently.
I think exactly this. Well put.
Our local show "peoples choice award" never goes to the actual best "bonsai" as we know it, but always goes to the tree that is flowering, or a mildly well done forest. Those types of trees seem to spark an emotion in people that for us bonsai folks just doesn't spark.
To be honest, I listed Sergio and John as examples of people who should hold there own exhibition because I love there trees, style and they have just enough thoughtfulness to play with ideas in a gallery setting. They could both easily carry a show for non bonsai folks on their own. No problem. But I also have plans in the works to put on my own, albeit small, art show here in Abq or in Santa Fe that gives me the opportunity to present, collaborate and discuss this art as just that, an art that can be expressive in so many ways. Not as a bonsai show, but as an art show. its something I've been considering for a while now, and I just recently started laying the ground work for what this could look like in the next 2-3 years. So much of this discussion in my head and discussions I have been having with other local artists and gallery owners, stems from the culturally unique nature of northern New Mexico and the very deep seeded connections with the landscape and its people dating back centuries and centuries. the Good and bad. Exactly what this manifests into, im not entirely sure, but ive begun putting pen to paper to organize my thoughts so when its time to make a statement or announce what it is im attempting, it should at least have a mildly cohesive theme. It may not end up being this world class bonsai event, but it gives small trees in pots an opportunity to weave a story that traditional 2 dimensional or even 3 dimensional art just can't tell.
Bonsai on there own, with traditional rules, and display techniques don't and in many ways, just can't, address those themes I referenced, but in collaboration with other artists, mediums, senses, spaces it can absolutely delve into realms this art hasn't before.
I think one of the biggest hangups with this type of show would be money. Most art shows also sell the art they are showing. I wouldn't be selling my trees, but would probably need to cover any costs of artists I collaborated with or even gallery fees if Im showing at a place with a good reputation. Ive got ideas on my work around though!!
I still LOVE bonsai shows and will continue to go to them and practice at my highest level. If I show trees outside of a bonsai show setting, it is so important to me that I do respect what would traditionally make a great tree, it just doesn't necessarily have to be a world class tree outside of the bonsai world to make a statement.
Also, Banana taped to a wall? I have no idea, but it was in an art gallery wasn't it? lol.
