To think about this in a different way (anthropologically, in my case) perhaps it is a matter of Othering (a la Said) different types of art: as in, "we" do proper art - painting, sculpture and whatever else they choose to categorize as art, while 'they' do not do proper art - bonsai, carpentry, ikibana, etc (anything that is not on their list).

This is further compounded by the fact that the Other was originally pointed at the 'Far East' as an exotic, mysterious place (that we need to go and colonize). So, bonsai is an exemplar of a practice of the Other, even if it is practiced to a fine degree in Britain itself. It is art 'they' do, not that 'we' do (or fund in this case).

I'd love to hear what some of those over there think of this?

Who cares? Vance blames it on political correctness (he must listen to Limbaugh too much), I can't bother with it enoough to care.

John

You cared enough to take the time to read this thread, you cared enough to analyze motives, and you cared enough to post your judgement/condemnation of those who do join in. So in answer to your implied question (who cares) , you must care---at least a little.

No, don't care, was bored.

Well, actually it's angular momentum that does that, but certainly people with money like to think that it's money and do a pretty good job of convincing others of same.

Lehket,
While I don't care for the origination of the thread, I do find your answer to be absolutely spectacular and want to thank you for making my day.

Many thanks,
John

Vance...

Similar to John's expressed thanks for lehket's comments... I have to express the same to you. While one may or may not agree with what you have to say, your ability to express yourself never ceases to amuse me.

I'm still chuckling over some of it....


Kindest regards,

Victrinia


PS. My take on the whole "not an art" thing is pretty simple. The person who wrote it is just ignorant. It's one of those moments you want to say, "Forgive them father for they know not what they do."

You can look at an empty canvas and see the painting. You can look at the landscape and recreate it in miniature form with exacting precision onto the empty canvas. This is called art. It is also called photography. To be art, according to the original funding boards information, something new needs to have been created from the landscape. So the "artist" paints a sunset where there isn't one.

A bonsai enthusiast, takes a seed (insert any other source material here) his/her canvas, and sees the ancient tree in the field and recreates onto from his/her canvas. is tools aren't the brush, and the little scraper thingy whose name escapes me, it is the wire and knob cutters that apply the art medium to its canvas. The medium is the soil, air and water that are applied to the canvas to allow it to take form.

What the original writer doesn't get, and they never will is that the tree itself is also the canvas, the tools and the medium nd it's alive.

Much like a well crafted aquarium is an artwork, ever changing ever amazing but no less an artwork.

Show me two bonsai trees (or any two trees for that matter) that are identical and I'll show you two trees that no longer fit into the original writers definition of art.

YET! they will argue that a model plastic bonsai is a form of art... go figure

The British invented Bureaucracy. Do you remember Yes Minister? very true.

If a pile of bricks or pile of dung can be considered Art !!

Then as a bonsai grower I am glad they do not put us in the same pile of S#~t.
IMHO Pup

Glad you liked it, John.