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No joking here. Look at our growing Western fascination with "naturalistic" looking bonsai and the lack of interest in artistic display. The logical conclusion for this is the relatively unstyled forms of the late 1800's in Japan. Bonsai design and presentation has changed a great deal since then, but as in nearly every other endeavor, we have here in bonsai a "regressive" tendency. I'm not saying that we're making sorry bonsai - just that there seems to be a premature tendency toward the "what's old is new again" approach.

Seriously, can you look at the highly refined forms and believe that there is any way to go but backward? Of course, here in the U.S. most will never know how to get to the highly refined forms and there is already a large movement toward "unstyled" bonsai. My conclusion is not so far fetched, is it?

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

3-Nov-2003	#4
K.A. Rutledge Guest Posts: n/a	No joking here. Look at our growing Western fascination with "naturalistic" looking bonsai and the lack of interest in artistic display. The logical conclusion for this is the relatively unstyled forms of the late 1800's in Japan. Bonsai design and presentation has changed a great deal since then, but as in nearly every other endeavor, we have here in bonsai a "regressive" tendency. I'm not saying that we're making sorry bonsai - just that there seems to be a premature tendency toward the "what's old is new again" approach. Seriously, can you look at the highly refined forms and believe that there is any way to go but backward? Of course, here in the U.S. most will never know how to get to the highly refined forms and there is already a large movement toward "unstyled" bonsai. My conclusion is not so far fetched, is it? Kind regards, Andy Rutledge zone 8, Texas