Over exposure...we see it all the time in musicians, sports figures and politicians. Does the possibility of over exposure exist in bonsai? I think so. The time has come that trees of over exposed artists are starting to look average when compared to trees less seen. How many times a year does it take to make a bonsai seem average? I haven’t a clue, but I can tell you that certain trees have been seen so many times that they have lost their luster they enjoyed when seen that first time! I had the opportunity to be asked to judge a photo contest at Art of Bonsai. I thought this was going to be a really awesome adventure. I was eager to see what the world of bonsai had to offer in the way of new bonsai photo’s taken in the world of 10 and 12 mega pixel SLR camera’s.

Imagine my disappointment when I looked at the entry’s for the first time and had seen nearly all of these trees before and many of them for more than four years. Maybe more in some cases.

One of the things that made the trees of Masahiko Kimura so special was trees like this had not been seen by many Westerner’s eyes. When the first book by Kimura was published in 1993 the photo’s of those trees blew me away. Never before had I seen a bonsai treated as sculpture and I was hooked on deadwood bonsai. I wanted trees like this bad! I looked at the photo’s of the trees and wondered what ever happened to those magnificent trees. I was also shocked to find that these trees in some cases had been started 10 years earlier. Today it is quite easy to find that all of those wonderful bonsai are alive and doing well in Kimura’s garden. The pictures are everywhere. There are short video’s and still photo’s by the hundreds. No more are we isolated from the confines of the artists busy schedule. A visiting Westerner will snap many pictures and have them on the net in no time. I began bonsai 1983. I had been doing bonsai for 10 years before I even saw a first image by Kimura. It would be another 10 years before I saw my first image of what I had seen 10 years earlier in a magazine in an internet photo of the plant doing well. Within months after that I had seen the same photo’s in many places on the net. The overexposure was staggering. All of a sudden, everything that I had loved before and couldn’t get enough of was now looking out dated and stale. There had been new ideas that made some of Kimura’s earlier work not as fresh. It was still masterpiece caliber, but now I was desensitized.

It has been said that bonsai clubs and bonsai in general has seen some decline in recent years. I have a theory about this too. I have found in my travels to clubs and exhibits that bonsai is as strong for many as it ever was. The problem seems to stem from a thirst for knowledge that is unattainable for many. Never before have we trained so many people in a short amount of time about the proper ideals of bonsai. Many people discriminate against stock that is not tapered or have great branching. This is something that was not done in the past by the general bonsai population.

Books are published so fast now a days that what was breaking news last month is hohum this week. Throughout the past 4 decades books appeared very slowly if ever. If a new book came out in two subsequent years, that was news to celebrate. Now books are introduced almost monthly. In fact if someone is not introducing a new book on bonsai, some publisher will collect enough internet articles and just publish that. Why not? If it sells, isn’t that the American way?

I understand that the internet is here to stay and photo’s are going to flood the bandwidth for many years to come. How will bonsai be taken to the next level? Can the famous artists of the past overcome the overexposure that makes these trees household guests?

Over exposure is also very prevalent in the hobbyist crowd too. There are times that I can click around at three or four bonsai forums and see the same trees posted repeatedly. I have never understood this desire to post a tree repeatedly. Is there some benefit to this that I have been missing?

Is bonsai so prevelent in photo's, magazines and the net that we find it impossible to even post a picture of a masterpiece? Have we lost the ability to actualy know what a masterpiece is because our mental model of bonsai is so diluted?


Best regards, Al

__________________
It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

Well Al it's 6 hours since you posted this and 26 reads with no replys - not sure what this means, but I'll take the opposing view and see if we can get the discussion going.


Another thought provoking subject by Al Keppler, but what does it mean? And is it relevant in the scheme of things? Does ‘Over Exposure’ take away the magnificence of an exceptional bonsai example, or more to the point, how will ‘Over Exposure’ affect the future of bonsai?

I can’t believe that you said that Al, but the fact that you did caused me to peruse the less seen bonsai in my local mall and at the local nursery and then hook on to the net for a bit more observation on some of the galleries but no, all this did was convince me that bonsai in general has a long way to go before the less seen trees offer any threat to the average masterpiece seen in most magazines.



If over exposure is defined as seeing the same bonsai masterpiece constantly, to the extent that your vision of it becomes blasé, then I agree, however I am sure that the same would apply to the Mona Lisa or Venus De Milo.



But what if over exposure did something worse? What if it encouraged so many hobbyists of all ages and limited funds and a lot of impatience to the art that and all that was produced was a diluted example of the Masterpieces that we had occasionally had the pleasure to witness.



Al also says,

Quote:

Books are published so fast now a days that what was breaking news last month is ho-hum this week. Throughout the past 4 decades books appeared very slowly if ever. If a new book came out in two subsequent years, that was news to celebrate. Now books are introduced almost monthly. In fact if someone is not introducing a new book on bonsai, some publisher will collect enough internet articles and just publish that. Why not? If it sells, isn’t that the American way?

Guess what my friend – this is called economics. Decades ago there just weren’t the hobbyists around to make writing and producing a specialist bonsai book financially worthwhile – now, there are so many hobbyists that a new industry is beginning to evolve. While we are on this subject, I’ll enlighten you to another fact. Books aren’t written for the person who knows it all, has done it all and has seen it all, they are produced primarily for the beginner who is still thirsting for knowledge and will find and purchase it anywhere.

Jon

Hi Al,

I was happy to see this topic come up.

Overexposure....Nope I don't believe so.
But with all the new blood in the Bonsai world a new age is upon us all.
How will we look at it?
Will we gripe about the old days, or perhaps embrace and welcome the New way.
The Old Masterpieces are still that and Just that. Time has not changed that they are great. But we have changed.

I, for one, welcome the new, yet, still old way of doing things.

The internet has opened up the World for all to see.

Unlike in the past when we were all limited in what we could get our hungry eyes and hands on.
We were all starving for new books, and magazines, and teachers, and anything and everything that was going on in the world in relation to Bonsai.

Would I want things as they were....Never!!!

Do I want "Cookie Cutter", nope.
New trees, new styles, new ways, new teachers.
I love that we can get on here and explore "Our" world.
We are only limited in what we can do, not by the world around us.
Got a problem or solution or a new way of doing something?
Unlike the times of old, it is at our fingertips now.
Would you really want to go back?


Is there a place for the "Old Masters"?
Who Knows.
Is the World flat? Time and Travel has taught us that it is not.
We all have the same opportunity to achieve.
Will we?
Or perhaps we should bury our heads in the sand.

Irene
Just my take on things.

Well put Al.

Although I do not have as many years in this as you I can understand where you are coming from. I do not like to look at photos of trees. I prefer to see them in person. Sure, I will ogle a gallery online or flip the pages in a book or magazine but I really never "remember" a tree unless I see it with my own eyes.

I can draw a parallel to live theatre. Sure, you could watch a video of a theatrical performance but you will never get the full impact of a live performance unless you are there (same holds true to live music). The smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd does not translate to another medium at all.

Same with trees. Even a 12 mega pixel camera will never truly capture a good enough image of a tree. A persons eyes are much too complex. The subtle shadows, the ever so faint highlights that glisten like the sun off the morning dew. The smell of the tree, the feeling of the breeze as it blows past you. None of that is ever in a photo.

To this day I have seen but a few great trees in person. Perhaps one day I can make it to the west coast and take it all in.

Incidentally, I try not to look at the photos online for one reason. I want to create the trees in my mind - not copy the forms of the trees that others have created. The masters have laid the ground-plan well, and I do enjoy and reflect on the writings on form and rules. I also appreciate the information on the care and propagation. It is with this silence of my eyes that I can concentrate on what the trees are telling me.

So yes, overexposure is a real thing.

This is not meant to be a criticism but a comment on what I find to be a major flaw in the way many, new to bonsai, come at the art. It is this one state of mind that forwards the idea which seems to say you can find your own way in bonsai and come up with your own styling etc.

By attempting to isolate one's self from what other artists are doing is to say you think you have a better idea, which may be so, but this of itself demands proof. Is this the reality of a truly artistic mind, capable of producing really outstanding work, or the verbalizing of an ignorant point of view working under the assumption that their meager knowledge and their great passion and intellect will soon surpass everyone else participating in the art?

The short of it is how do you know what you like if you have never seen what those looked upon as great have done or are doing? At some point you must have seen bonsai, good, bad, or ugly and been moved by the image to do the same. I do not think it is likely that the image of a bonsai appeared to you in the clouds as the image of the cross appeared to Constantine, saying go and conquer in this image.

I know (Graydon) you have not taken this that far, but there are those who have.

To me, the saddest part of the "over exposure" issue is that it is all on the internet. When viewing a picture, you get a somewhat vague idea of what the tree looks like. Go to a show, crouch under the canopy, and look inside. See, actually see, what it is makes that tree the tree it is. Notice the ramification. See how the deadwood curls up and away from you. Feel the essence of the tree. Understand how the wire is holding the branch in place. Not some photo. Photos are cheap. They give you an idea of what the tree looks like. But without seeing it in person, it pales in comparison.
The over exposure is like you tube. We are entertained briefly, but generally left wanting. Why is it that we don't go to more shows? Why not visit friends in driving distance, and view their trees? Have a BBQ, and see what trees really look like? Why do we allow ourselves to be so quickly be satisfied? We're a "gotta have it now" society. Me, I don't need it now. I wanna learn it, feel it, see it, then decide. I'm gonna go light my candle and read by the fireplace now.

Scott

Why does it seem that so many want to denigrate the "old" styles and "old" masters ? There is a lot of the "I am going to do it my way, a new, better way, not the cookie cutter way." Is this just Americam hubris ?

Yes, in a word.

We get on the Internet, we join a forum, a discussion group, a chat room and all of a sudden we know it all, we have access to it all, and most of all we are special. We shun sound advise if it does not seem to fit this preconceived idea we have in our minds. We do, after all, on coming to bonsai approach it on our own terms having within us some special insight and esoteric talent others do not posses.

Rules, we don't need no stinking rules, we are above the rules. We will make our own rules. When we are done we are going to redefine the rules, create the models, perform the miracles that will awe future generations of bonsai growers. But alas; if future bonsai growers learn anything from us will it be that we are independent, self thinking, beholding to no one, capable of going above and beyond those who preceded us, following our own paths, then --why would what we do will be of little note to those who do the same and come after us?

A real sad part of this is a manifestation of the philosophy of destruction, where in, an individual or group of individuals, with or without malice, finding they cannot do what some "Master" can do, seeks to make that work irrelevant or somehow corrupt; on some level only they can understand, or perceive.

Hmm. Seems to me that the original post was along the lines of "seen it before not impressed anymore" so that's what I'll speak to.

Overexposure can happen. I've heard several times, "Oh, that's another one of XXX's trees" said in a bored tone of voice. (Insert your favorite stylist into XXX) I remember the first time I visit a "real" bonsai nursery........trees everywhere.........everyone of them awesome in my mind. Fast forward-trees everywhere, and many of them looked right over. Why? Cause it's "another" formal pine..... "another" cascading juniper..... etc. Why do I look past it? I've seen it already. After the 100th banyan style, it has to be an outstanding tree to catch the eye.

But, does it mean I don't want to see more trees (real or pictures)? Nope, bring on the trees! Does it mean I've been overexposed to that style of tree? Yes. But, is it a bad thing? Well, it means that a tree has to be that much better/unique to stick in my head.

Now, the question of seeing the same pictures everywhere you turn..... I've run into this myself. I've thought, okay, there's got to be more examples of this than the same tree over and over. I think the neatest pictures are the ones where the tree was famous 20 years ago, and they do an update picture..... but that's a different topic. Who's at fault though? The artist for his/her tree being famous? The editors for not seeking out new material? Us for not encouraging new material? Or all? Or none?

A solution could be to hold more contests for unknown material. To draw from my photography and craft experiences, a fair/contest usually has a clause that the item in question must have never been shown before and must have been made within a certain time period. This is to stop people from entering the same thing over and over and over and to give a variety. You might laugh, who'd enter the same thing year after year? People do. So, if we want new pictures, a new contest-only trees that have not been "shown" in other contests before.

Desensitized........that's part of human nature. One reason why children bring delight is because they've not seen it before and can remind us to really look at "it" (whatever it is) again, and remember why we liked it. If treated right, beginners in any hobby can do the same. If humans couldnt desensitize, no one could live near sawmills... or under the constant threat of whatever natural/manmade disaster would come up next. Its the brains way of absorbing only new information.


In response to dtree's statement, not wanting to keep doing the same thing over and over is not an "American" thing. Stick a human on an assembly line doing the same thing over and over and watch them get bored.... regardless of nationality. Humans are a herd animal, but we also think for ourselves. If everyone was only satisfied with the "cookie cutter" bonsai, think of how much we would have missed. The first person who jinned a tree probably was met with ridicule.... but now everyone is doing it. Encouraging creativity does sometimes come with some, um, "interesting" results... but it keeps more people in the hobby than saying "Your tree MUST look like one of these". Is it disrespect to the old styles and old masters to make a "new" style and a "new" master? I don't believe it is. Is it moving on? Yes. Is it bad? No. I don't see bonsai as going downhill in terms of 'masterpiece' trees. Perhaps the real issue is people are afraid to show their "new" style of tree for fear of the "old school" bonsaists ridiculing them for not conforming. A mentality like that will cause the art to stagnate.


Graydon, I can sympathize with not wanting to "clutter" your mind with pictures of other peoples trees. I feel the same way when an art teacher tells me I have to paint/draw/sculpt something in the same style as another artist. My first instinct? No way, I want to do it in my style not someone elses! Gut reaction. But, then step back and think about it.......by imitating, I can see the strengths and weaknesses of that artists style. I can learn from it, and then apply it to my own. In music, one must first play what the "old masters" played in order to build a base from which to play a unique style. In bonsai, by looking at pictures, you get a better idea of what you do and don't like in a tree.

Susan and crew

Good response Vance. Your points are to an extent valid. I'm glad you understood my response. I guess I could have been more clear in this part - that type of isolation was not what I was eluding to achieve (perhaps other have and do). I am trying to isolate myself from the crap that is printed and posted online. Although I have the books and the magazines I see them as more of a reference or rules of thumb. What I was trying to say is that unless you have seen the tree in person you have not seen the tree. What you have seen is is another artists (or regular person) view of the tree. It may be a photo of the tree with the best intention of the photo taker but it's just not the same - at all.

An example - have you seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre or a photo of the Mona Lisa? It's a masters work, one of the most common examples of fine art in the world. Almost every educated person could point it out and name it as well as da Vinci, the creator. I have not seen her, but hope to do that one day soon while my eyes still work well. Do I appreciate her? Yes. But not as much as when I stand in front of her in all the glory that she has to offer, just as da Vinci had intended her to be seen.

The only other way I could see this is that Al is correct in more than one way and "the internets", books and magazines have really dumbed us all down, satisfied with staring at low resolution interpretations of someone else's work, perhaps missing the entire point of the tree and the artist. If these are "great" trees, truly "masterpieces" by old and new masters then they must be seen how the artist wanted them to be seen - in person. Viewing them at the proper height and distance would be good as well.

So proper in person exposure is the only cure for overexposure, get off your butt and go to a show, go to a collection and see a tree. This is art and that is how art is appreciated.