Keppler Editorial VII
(Sorry somehow I skipped number seven.)


Pecking Order of life.

It seems that from infancy we are engaged in a pecking order and finding our place in it. It starts early with siblings and later on in grade school. We soon find our place when the football team is choosen or the class spelling bee is held. Maybe a person is not athletic or maybe they are not very good with their hands. Soon we are in high school and college. We find ourselves once again knee deep in pecking orders and cliques. Pandering to those above us we find that finding a place to fit in is not always as easy as one would think. We are soon frustrated and depending on personality, we may lash out or worse, POSTAL. Finally succumbing to the fact that we are not in the pecking order in the position we think we are will go along ways towards easing many forum squabbles. Just cause you talk like your on top does not mean you are. Perception is all there is.

Bonsai and personal criticism.

I have found that in my short life that inanimate objects are not capable of spontaneous bursts of artistic improvement. The require help of man. They sit on the bench each day and wait to be watered, wait to be fed and wait to have their soil changed. Without the human intervention life is fleeting. We care for them and work with them and try as hard as we possibly can to improve them. We strive for the best possible look and extract every possible ounce of artistic vision we have. We show our work and when we are told that it is awesome we are proud. The artist is commended and may be even considered talented after a reasonable amount of time. When its good the artist is a hero and will be commended personally for a job well done.

Ugh Oh….not so good tree.

Then we have the tree posted with best of intention but not so good. Branches are off and the tree lacks taper. The tree may be planted to soon in the bonsai pot and lacks maturity. The design is poor and lacks balance or a myriad of other faults. Now the posters are caught in a dilemma. How do we get across to the artist that they did a poor job on the tree. We can’t just come out and say what’s really on our mind and tell them that they lack talent or artistic vision. Or can we?

Why is it when its good the artist had everything to do with it and when its bad its politically incorrect to tell them that they lack vision? The tree is an inanimate object. It has no soul and no intelligence. It lacks the mechanical function of mobility and therefore sits on a shelf.

It’s all the trees fault, right. The owner had nothing to do with it, right. Bull cookies! The owner has to realize that the bonsai exhibit is a double edged sword and that the same rhetoric about how good you are needs to be balanced by how bad you are. Nobody said this was easy. There are not trophies awarded to each participant simply for playing the game like most schools do now.

Bonsai is personal. Treat it as such and you will improve. "Remove personality from the artist and you take personality from the art."

This editorial is for those that wish to move along in bonsai. For those that wish to exhibit their tree in a convention or national exhibit. This editorial is for those that feel bonsai is about the tree and its ability to exhibit a small portion of nature in a 4 square foot space.

For those of you that wish to do bonsai in your backyard and share your tree with family and friends, that’s OK too. I think that’s a very nice pastime to fill ones free time with. I only ask, don’t get peeved at me when I tell someone that they did a poor job on the tree that they feel is somehow destined to becoming a masterpiece.

It’s been said to debate the subject not the author. I feel it’s time that the author realize that the tree has nothing to do with how crappy it looks and the author needs to step up and take responsibility.

Al Keppler

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

Bravo Al,

Well said!
Mom

Just for the sake of argument it is not always the artists fault some times the meterial can be at fault.
There is a now famous sculpture by I think Michael Angelo of Christ. He started the sculpture from the feet up and when he got to the shoulders he found a magor flaw in the marble that he had used. In disgust he got rid off the piece and it was finnished by lesser artists. It was lost for many years but is now displayed in some church. I am no expert and I am unsure if this fault in the meterial was possible to be picked up at an earlier stage but you would think Michael would have taken every precaution when choosing the meterial!
http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/michelan/p-michel17.htm
I do agree with you though Al but I guess nothing is ever black and white

Soltan, That is a very unusual post considering we are talking about seperating the men from the boys so to speak. Your comparison is absolutely the one determining factor in bonsai. The ability to choose the right material for any givin project. This is very high on my list of important attributes it takes to become profeciant in bonsai. Having talent means nothing if you are starting with stock from Home Depot. Even a novice can probably make a respectable tree from a piece of masterpiece collected material even if they technically do some things wrong.

I inplore each individual to purchase the best poossible stock for projects. Buy something that is almost a no brainer when it comes to initial cuts. Work with something that makes doing bonsai a joy. You will be amazed how fast the learning curve is when the material is top notch. Bonsai does not have to take a long amount of time to have something worthy. Just because a person works on a tree for twenty years and it still looks like a plant from a nursery is not saying to much for the artist.

I am totally blown away when someone takes a piece of virgin material and can make something that looks as if it has been worked on for years. That is respectable and they earn my respect. Then I have seen some trees that have been worked on for decades and they still have no shape in the canopy and the apex looks unworked. I know exactly where they fit in my pecking order, and I respect their replies accordingly

Thanks, Al

It is not unusual it is very simple. Even the greatest artist can end up with material that is never going to be a masterpiece and the artist may spend much time on the material before this is realised. Hence it is then the fault of the material not the artist. You have stated that it is always the artist fault if the comosition is a dud.
I guess this happens more often for the less expereinced or less gifted

I am sure Michael Angelo used only the best marble peices but even then he ended up with a dud.

Soltan,

I actually think your example of Michael Angelo supports Al's assertion that choosing great material from the start is key. What happened when Mr. Angelo discovered the material he was working was flawed? He stopped wasting his time and moved on. He didn't even bother to finish it and probably didn't want his name associated with the piece. I haven't been doing bonsai for long, but some of the discussions on the forums have helped me learn that selecting good stock is key.

I'm not sure an inanimate object can take any blame for lacking potential, it is the artist who has to accept full responsibility for selecting the material and then realizing as early as possible the material's potential or lack thereof. If the artist knows the piece is mediocre then why would he/she ever display/exhibit such a piece with his/her name on it? Artists will produce hundreds of sketches/paintings that they never sell or perhaps just throw in the trash bin. Art is personal and the art represents the artist. Wouldn't you only want to show your best?

Yes I agree I am not disagreeing with al about the need to selsect good material except for the fact that bad material is not always the artists fault by this senario of Michaels Christ.You are right he rid himself of the work and wanted no connection with it that is why it took them so long to find it! but. Did Michael have any chance of knowing the marble was flawed as it was flawed underneath and not on the surface. If the artist had no way of knowing can you say it was his fault. If it is not his fault surley the blame can be put on the inanimate object that caused the problem! I reckon Michael called that marble a few names.

Yes, I guess Michael did throw out a few colorful metaphors when he discovered the flaw in the marble. I definitely see your point and concede that some people could fault the material for its flaws. What I took from Al's editorial is that the fault ultimately lies with the artist because in the end he chose the material. The artist chooses to continue working with it and also chooses to let it represent him or not. The responsibility for working with or displaying material with major flaws is squarely on the artist's shoulders. The artist decides whether the flaws can be overcome or even incorporated into the design.

So yes, one could hold the tree responsible for its flaws, but not for what the artist chooses to do with them.

being open minded: perhaps trees do have a soul http://yedda.com/questions/think_tr..._8622950701715/

i agree that an artist should always be held accountable for the art that they produce. i went to an art college and i can tell you that it is very common for artists (especially artists that have much perspective to gain) to get upset, defensive, sometimes hostile during a serious critique. i've seen professors walk up to a piece and throw it into the trash can right in front of everyone. art IS personal so criticizing, especially adversely (constructive or not) is taken personally. being an artist and learning how to handle this type of criticism is a VERY important step and one to learn early on.


i doubt michelangelo blamed himself for a hidden flaw in his chosen material. the flaw was undetectable. how often can that be said for bonsai? maybe when collecting... in most cases the flaw is in the artist one way or another.

A lot of bonsai in north america is perhaps just terrible, absolutely god-awful and embarrassing. But a lot of it isn't. individual people, making bonsai in their own ways, should wind up with something subtly idiosyncratic, something personal and special. The culture of western bonsai is one giant scatter-- of crappy things, and of wonderful ones. this is, in my opinion, important to point out.


-chris

I wrote a really long response to this, and then a line from the 'Princess Bride' went through my mind:

Inigo Montoya "Let me 'splain. No, that will take too long, let me sum up"

Before I collected the tree, it was just a tree. Everything after that is bonsai (or at least it's trying to be), and trying to unlock potential. If there is failure, it's mine either from lacking the skills necessary to create what I saw, or lacking the experience to know how to pick the right tree in the first place.

Right now, I'm working on both.

Christian