yenling83
Omono
Do you consider Kimura's trees to be cookie cutters? Why or Why Not?
I would take his worst tree over the best tree in America any day of the week, but then I am biased the way I approch this hobby. The Japanese perfected this hobby, so why mess with a good thing for the sake of change.
keep it green,
Harry
Whoaah, now you are going overboard, Harry.
His worst tree may be worth a couple of thousand $$, at best. On the other hand, the best American tree may top $100,000. I am not sure that you would make that trade, and lose your underwear, in the process.
You're telling me he has a 2k tree in his garden, I want to buy it, know his email addy. Please indulge me as to who has a $100,000 tree ?
Which one of these suckers is 2K?
http://bonsaijapan.wordpress.com/kimuras/
keep it green,
Harry
Is it fair to say that, at the heart, Kimura's style utilizes traditional japanese forms as the foundation.
What does this mean exactly? seems like a really nice way of saying, Yah dude I think his style is pretty cookie cutter! or maybe not.
You said "his worst tree". I assume that means, "the worst tree he has worked on, in his lifetime". It does not mean, the worst tree in his collection, since I am sure that his collection only includes top trees. There are many average trees that he has worked on (I have personally seen a few), and those are not worth beyond a few thousand, probably less.
As to a $100,000 tree, here is an old thread. No point of discussing it again:
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2750
A great tree can easily be worth $100,000, but of course, you have to find the right buyer, which may not be easy.
From his personal collection in his back yard (or garden) which ever you prefer. I know of a gentleman that has probably one of the top collections in the US, he hires a full time caretaker and Marco is just one of the masters that work on his trees, he has over 1500 top notch trees, but I am willing to bet he doesn't have a tree worth 100,000 bucks. You can see some of his collection on facebook under Kennett Bonsai.
Here's a link.
keep it green,
Harry
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000680025249#!/album.php?aid=1997&id=100000680025249
keep it green
What about the tree they had in kokofu-ten? The profile photo... I would imagine that one is worth a several dozen gold coins. Not that it reallys matters... you don't care about the money, it's your internal perception of perfection that matters to you. There are trees in the Kimura garden I would decline in favor of the new tree in the Kennett collection... because my perspections differ....
Then again, there are trees in Kobayashi's collection I'd take before nearly any Kimura tree... Because I love what that man does with prunus. But that's a "d" tree and therefore not on your perfection list at all...
V
For the sake of avoiding miscomunication, I think it would be best if you define, in no uncertain terms, what do you mean by cookie cutter.
That's because to me, for instance, cookie cutter means a badly executed tree with no character and formulaic design(formulaic design, by the way, means that each tree has the same pattern: first branch on the right, second on the back, and third on the left, and so forth....and also means that a tree has no notable features).
For others, cookie cutter may mean one of the classical forms, which can be informal upright, formal upright, slanting, cascade, formal broom, etc.
So, it is important to clarify what you mean.
Just to further elaborate, would you call the individual trees in a spruce forest from the Pacific North West, cookie cutter? The reason I am asking is, that from afar, they all may look alike, but they were all designed by nature, without the intervention of man. There is no right or wrong answer here, just a matter or communicating clearly.