designguy

On Art and Bonsai

These are some thoughts I had regarding the discussions found here of the subject of “is bonsai an art or is it not?”

For quite some time I didn’t believe that creating bonsai was a form or work of art in our modern world. I didn’t want to buy it. Now though after some thought I feel ultimately its up to you. Do you consider it art? And if so why. And if you don’t why not? You’ll be right either way and the discussion of the merits of your opinions will best be understood by others using simple words and explanations.

Then I started thinking about what makes art, “art”. And I came up with a few answers that left me thinking that it is indeed art. First off let me explain that the philosophy of this is called “esthetics”. I know its a big word, but I thought I’d give its definition as well just so we understood what I am trying to discuss.
Esthetics- The philosophy of beauty and the fine arts.

Since a philosophy is a culmination of ideas, they are open for debate. So anyone’s opinion about whether “Bonsai” is an art should be as well. Anyone who believes that Bonsai is not an art, I stand by him/her and agree with their opinion. If anyone believes that it is an art, I stand by him/her and agree with them as well. I think calling anything art is largely made up of one’s own unique opinions. I think that history has shown that if you are doing something that you want others to believe is “Art”. Than you need to proclaim in a loud voice that “it” is Art. Sell it as Art. Show it as Art. And ultimately explain it as having merits of artistic value. Also, wearing a Beret while you do all of this might lend to your credibility. I’ve noticed that having “wild” hairdos or clothes also works but really a beret speaks of a classy timelessness that I think cant be beat. But if you don’t feel that it’s art, I think you should have better reasons than “art is for snobs”, etc. I feel that most artistic ideas and expressions can be discussed and explained using the simplest of words.

I believe that bonsai for the most part, is a simple art. When I say simple I mean that bringing abstract ideas to its expression is extremely difficult. Its very difficult to bring in social, economic, environmental themes into the works of art of bonsai. I’ve seen it done and its very hard to do it well I believe. So most artists stick with the “tree in pot” (environmental) theme. The trees in pots don’t lend themselves easily to expressing ideas other than representations of their counterparts found in nature. To put more into the work takes great skill and creativity. But I’ve seen it and know that it can be done well. But for the most part people are happy creating simple themed compositions.

The following are a few reason why I believe bonsai to be an art form. Some of these may be obvious and already spoken of here but I felt they needed to be included for my explanation.

Most of the principles following two-dimensional art can be used and applied to bonsai. For example we need to consider form, shape, balance, weight, color etc. in order to make appealing trees.

Some of the principles following three-dimensional art can be used and applied to bonsai. These sometimes deal with our other senses. Texture, feeling of touch, the physical space taken up by the bonsai, any intrusion of the bonsai into our personal space, smell, lighting, and possibly sound.

Bonsai contains two more elements that most other “Fine” art forms can not contain and this is part of the determining definition of this “art”.
Time-
Bonsai is expressed and experienced in a period of time. That “time” is usually determined by the life of the tree. Or perhaps only the viewers time spent experiencing the bonsai. Though that experience is similar to viewing a painting. But when the viewer leaves the piece of art, a bonsai will continue to change and evolve over time with the artist. The experience of the bonsai artist (who would spend more time with this bonsai) and the passer by, will be entirely different due to the passage of time and their respective amount spent with that bonsai. Bonsai is experienced by moving around the tree and viewing it from different angles. Viewing it at different times of the day, season, year etc.

Change-
I believe that change to the artistic object ultimately defines this as performance art. Its not a snapshot of a frozen moment in time. The outcomes and results of artistic creations in a bonsai occur over time. The bonsai can change due to the growth/death of the tree, desires of the artist, choice of pot, and the technical skill of the bonsai artist. These all will change over a period of time and affect the bonsai. These changes can take minutes or hundreds of years to alter the bonsai. The changes can be natural (growth/death of the tree of its own accord) or unnatural (clipping, cutting, shaping and stunting the growth by the artist). I think this dynamic interplay between the will of the tree and the will of the artist make Bonsai an extremely interesting art form. The object is ultimately a human creation that would not happen on its own.

When we discuss bonsai in this online forum. For the most part we are discussing the art of photography and the photographs subjects. Because I am not viewing your bonsai in its same physical space, I can’t experience two of the artistic elements described above that make it art. I can only experience the tree (bonsai?) as a photographic art, online. We can only show a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional object that will change over time. So the online bonsai forums are largely made up of photographic artists.

This horse has been beaten to death. Thanks for reading.
Mark

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