Or here,...
http://pictures.bonsaitalk.com/
I see bonsai as an art form, all of it,...one can't really say "only the greatest bonsai are art" there are good bonsai and bad bonsai,...just like there are good songs and bad ones.
This kind of brings me to another point, isn't music a fine art, and does it not involve time/timing and rely very heavily on change? Can you imagine a 1.4 second single tone being considered "great music"? For that matter much literature and drama as well include many elements time and change.
But then I do understand bonsai as craft, if carried out that way,...buy a trunk that some one with more patience grew and follow the book as to what to keep and where to bend what to. But where's the fun in that? Besides, when you have it looking the way that you want it to look, and you sit back and enjoy it, are you viewing it as a craft-work? If so, then by this measure would you also do this with your plumbing, or drywall seams, the way that your brick walls are laid,...etc,...where does it end?
If everyone would like to join me this weekend I will be hosting a sidewalk viewing! LOL
Do not misunderstand, I think that one can find beauty in places where it wasn't meant to placed. But it's not art, due, in whole, to the fact that the beauty inherent therein, was not created in a deliberate attempt to visually communicate or express any "thing" in particular. Much in the same way that we as modern man can enjoy a sunset very much visually, and may even attach to it our own meanings, or expressions. This is how archetypes are created and we use the archetype of the tree to describe nature, or some part of it. Generally in bonsai the most specific element of nature that we attempt to express are those that trees express well,...visually based concepts and preconceptions. If a tree is created (formed,shaped or styled) for no other reason than appear as being a "beautiful tree", then it is still art, as beauty is a concept.