Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Vance Wood
The problems arise directly proportionate to the agreed credibility of the above organization or bureaucracy where by something like bonsai will be deemed by "Them" to not be art.
|
Exactly! Credibility remains the glaring issue. The notion that a bonsai cannot be called “art” unless it is either accompanied by some “innovative” growing technique, or included as part of something else, must be one of an artificial tree because it does not hold water at all.
Stone sculpture for instance,
IS considered art. This form has been around since earliest man simply whacked one rock against another (and likely his thumb) until he achieved the desired outcome. There were no innovations until the hammer, chisel, sanding and polishing burst on the scene to rave reviews in all the fashionable scrolls. In the thousands of years since then we have elevated ourselves to the current use of electric and pneumatic tools. Same rock, different…er…whacker. Except for making it easier, did these innovations do anything to qualify the individual finished piece as art?
Of course not!
Whether you painted the walls of your cave with a stick and plant dye, glopped an acrylic monstrosity on canvas with a nylon brush, or shot it from a squirt gun on steroids at 60 PSI really (evidently) doesn’t matter. As with any other art form, what you are presenting is judged and not a set of stipulations for how it came to be. In the end, a good bonsai holds up under and adheres to numerous art principles and can therefore, stand on it’s own merits.
Cheers!
_gonzo_