My personal musings on art

RonMartin(deceased)

Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder but the eye could not see it, the brain not register it if it wasn't already out there somewhere. It is a thing that we search for all our lives. Sometimes if you are very lucky you can find it.
The big problem is that we have absolutely no idea what we are looking for. We can't exactly define what beauty is. To many variables. Each item will have its own beauty. Each set of eyes will see that beauty in a different way.
All we can really say is that we will know it when we see it.
Now there is a phrase that I have heard many times. Especially when the conversation turns to art. And when that art conversation is being held by a bunch of bonsai people feathers really fly.
In most art forms there are levels of quality. All the way from masterpiece to, for the lack of a better word, junk. All levels, schools of thought, variations and ethnic styles are at least tolerated. The old and the new blend and live in harmony.
One can pick the level and reason to do almost any kind of art. With talent you can be a great artist, a doodler or a craftsman. Even a hobbyist. You can paint just for the sheer enjoyment of it. Sing in the bathtub. Whittle on a stick or make garden gnomes in ceramic classes. Artist, collectors and doodlers are, for the most part are treated equal. Some just more talented than others.
No one (well almost no one) will look down on you for doing your own thing. Instead you are more often than not encouraged to do so.
Bonsai for some reason is different. There is only black and white, no shades of gray. Only good and bad. One is not allowed to do it for the shear enjoyment of the endeavor. You must be constantly raising the bar but always falling short of that goal.
Show someone your bonsai and they will only tell you what you did wrong. Nothing is allowed to be "pretty good" it must be perfect. Critics abound. Sometimes I think that one only needs to know how to spell bonsai in order to qualify as a critic.
A real pity because if bonsai worked like the other arts do you think that more people would be involved in it. More importantly would you enjoy it better.
Bonsai like any other art form will not survive if stuck in the past. We must have innovation. More often than not that innovation comes from someone's back yard. Someone just playing with an idea. If that person has a God given talent then look out. The world will notice.
Even if there is no talent then the talented will notice and steal the idea and run away with it. Innovation will always be noticed.
So what does this all mean.
Bonsai is an art form concerned with trees so when you get done with it no one should look at it and say train or plane or car. Just tree. It should resemble one. Those are the rules
Your opinion and skills do count. So does your vision. They are at least as good as 99 % of the other people in bonsai.
When you first set down with that piece of stock just cut off what is, to you anyway, ugly. What is left will be your thing of beauty.
If enough people agree with you then you are an artist. If not then you are still an artist. For surely you have found beauty.
And that my friends is not a bad thing. It is what artists do.
My opinion anyway.

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mike_p

Ron, thank you for your opinion. Well said. But, you've stuck out your neck, used the "A" word, and you must be aware that somewhere, someone is sharpening the guillotine.

Mike

__________________
Bonsai is not a hobby.
Bonsai is a way of life.
MP@BBB Studio

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way
Gautama Buddha

RonMartin(deceased)

won't be the first time

grampz

Mr. Ron,

Excellent thoughts and so appropriate...I do believe if we didn't find it so necessary to be 'critics of bonsai' we would be much more able to enjoy the art or craft of bonsai...It has long been my observation that those who enjoy a nice tree the most seem to be the ones that have no idea about the rules or guidelines that we so often use to tear apart and judge a tree...

In my opinion if someone is willing to show a tree, they, at least consider that tree a thing of beauty...If I can not see that beauty in the tree, so be it...That is probably my loss...If I can only judge the tree by 'rules' and what has been done before, then it is indeed my loss...

I doubt anyone will deny that some trees are more beautiful than others, and some including Walter Pall even have the ability to find beauty in 'ugly trees'...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and making me stop to consider my own ideas on this subject...

Regards
Behr

__________________
As the Master departed the workshop,
he could have sworn he heard some
one saying rather loudly...
"I thought he would never leave"
San Antonio Bonsai Society, Inc.

mike_p

Art, and peoples perception of art is a mysterious thing. I won't pretend to understand the mysteries, but only hope to appreciate beauty in it's many manifestations.
My favorite mystery of art concerns my daughter Allison. When she was about 3 years old, I showed her a surrealistic painting by Paul Klee, and asked her what she saw. Without hesitation she said, "a man". When she was around 7, I showed her the same picture, and she had no answer.
What was it about a 3 year old mind that understood the image and a 7 year old mind that was mystified?
Do we need to view art through the eye of a child? Is our sophistication a barrier to appreciation?

Mike

__________________
Bonsai is not a hobby.
Bonsai is a way of life.
MP@BBB Studio

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way
Gautama Buddha

Vance Wood

Here come the long knives, pitch forks, hoes, axes and ropes of 13 knotts, not to mention the villagers with burning torches a veritable screaming mob with murder on thier minds. For what its worth I agree with most of what you have said. The way I see it beauty can sometimes be a cultural thing and sometimes a genetic thing, but it is almost never an objective thing. The entire issue is driven by oppinion and points of view.

Examples: some people find Joey Bishop funny, I cannot even comprehend that point of view-------but that's me. Some people find Julia Roberts beautiful,-------I don't,---- but that's just me. Some people love reality TV, I find it soporific. Some people think Andy Worhol(sp) was a great artist, I just think he was a garbage collector with an attitude,----but that's just me. Some people think that taking of your clothes and urniating on stage infront of an audience is performance art,-----I think you don't want to be in the first row without a rain coat and a pith helmet, personally I prefer Gallagher and his sledgematic,----but that's just me.

The point is that there is no real clear and definable difinition of art and what it is. If there was we would not always be talking about it, arguing about it, and killing each other over it.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

Will_Heath

True and since beauty is indeed a reality that exists, we can and do recognize it and can tell when something has reached the stage of art or not.


Not quite true. There are indeed levels of quality but poor quality is hardly tolerated by those who produce high quality. You can go to our own gallery here and see masterpieces and junk posted together on the same forum but they hardly live in harmony. In fact, the gallery rules as posted are violated by many pieces there, so even our own gallery frowns upon the junk end and gives favor to the quality end of the equation.


Again, not quite true. Talented artists may very well encourage lesser talents to continue, but it is encouragement to continue to learn and grow, not encouragement to become stagnant and not improve. Imagine a painter or sculptor that has little talent trying to display their work in a major art museum or gallery along side those with great talent, it won't and never will happen. Face it, all artists are divided by talent.

In a perfect world grandma could display her 79 styles of handmade lumpy ashtrays next to Michaelangelo's David and both would be considered artists and be applauded. But in this real world, grandma has a very long ways to go before that will happen. If she enjoys what she is doing, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it and she should be applauded for her efforts, however she is not Michaelangelo and she is not in the same class, and yes Virginia, she does not have the same talent.

Now if grandma starts to downplay the efforts of those who wish to learn and become better artists, then she is wrong. If she gets mad or hurt when she posts her ashtrays on a public forum that does in fact have advanced artists as members and those who are studying to be better artists and they critique her work based on there own mindset, then she needs to realize that they have that right and she should try and learn from this and not condemn it.



One is allowed to grow anything for the pure enjoyment of it, take tomatoes for example; grow them to your hearts content, listen to your neighbors and family tell you how good they are and what a wonderful gardener you are, but the minute you enter them in the county fair or post them on a tomato forum, you open them up for critique. In this new world people who also grow tomatoes will critique yours and offer advice. This is life, keep the tomatoes in the backyard and you're the best, show them and there will always be better.

Remember, the only reason we trim, wired, prune, or shape a bonsai is to make it better and like it or not, better means more artistic. Period.


In my opinion,



Will

RonMartin(deceased)

Opinion or fact. Can you give examples.

Will_Heath

I did Ron, our own gallery states that only quality bonsai should be posted.

http://pictures.bonsaitalk.com/uploadphoto.php



Will