My $6 Lowes Adventure

[JasonG]

I disagree, the concept of the front started with the Tokonoma, the display area in a Japanese Tea Room, in which a single side was displayed. This display led to many "rules" of display that we are just now starting to break away from as bonsai enters a new era. However, even in the Tokonoma, the direct on view where just the back rim of the pot is visible, was rarely, if ever observed.

So just when did this mythical perfect front concept come from? Photographs. Good old two dimensional photographs, the exact same thing that nourishes this myth today. This "photo front" mentality has trained us to swat down at shows to view a tree from that angle. Why? unless you are taking a picture, this view is awkward and trees are seldom displayed at this perfect height, more so because bonsai are different heights. Even if displayed at the perfect height, two people, one tall, the other short, standing shoulder to shoulder, will never see it.

Japonism has dictated how we display bonsai, hence we use drop cloths behind the trees and back them up against it or we use tokonomas in settings far removed from the tea house. Yet, this method of dip lay has dictated how we design bonsai, all geared toward one single view.

Bonsai is sculpture and should be displayed as sculpture is or at the very least, designed as sculpture, in three dimensions. In the round, not in bas relief.

So, in answer to your comment quoted above, no bonsai have not always had a single front and no, it certainly will not be that way forever. Walter and a few others have displayed their bonsai in an Art gallery setting on pedestals where people could walk around them, enjoy the entirety of a tree. Bonsai displayed in such a fine art environment must be viable from all sides and all angles. The public will not and could care less about the artist's photo front. For example, google pictures of some of the great sculptures, like David. You will find many pictures from many differing angles and views.....all excellent. Sure you may have a preference, but it most likely will not be the same as mine, or theirs, but it really doesn't matter, show the art, let the viewers find it.



Will

Man....I know better then to get into this...... BUT the trunk depicts the front every time! Sure there are the one in a million trees that the trunk is equally as good from the other side. But when talking about killer bonsai the trunk is best from one angle. An angle that shows live wood and deadwood, movement and dynamics. You won't get this from all angles.

Picture front? That is a nice term....every tree has a front that shows the best of the tree, that is why it is called a front and pictures are taken to show the best side of the tree. Either way, it goes back to the true front. Why do you think the old school Tokonames were set up the way they were? To show the best side of the tree. Most old tokonames were set in a room where the viewer knelt in front of the tree.


Comparing bonsai to sculpture is something that I just don't see, it is comparing apples to oranges. A sculpture is done when the artist is finished with it. It sits in its final location and never changes, aside from the patina.

A bonsai is always changing , isn't done when the artist is done and it never stops changing until it is dead. No other art can compare with that, not sculpture not painting, nothing. Bonsai is its own artform, trying to compare it to something else is crazy.

There is a front to every bonsai, this is a front that shows off the best features of the tree. Sure our goal is to get it to look good from all angles, but to say there is "no true front" in the absolute way that Will is saying is wrong. Even bonsai displayed in the 360 have a true front, an educated bonsai person would see this in the display. I don't care what someone who knows nothing about bonsai thinks about my trees, their opinion is useless...but someone like Walter, Peter Warren, Ryan Neil,Marco, etc...those are the opinions that hold water. Each of them will find the front.

 

[october]

Hello all..

Hi Tim, Well, Initially, 3 years ago, I took off about 1/2 the root ball on the san Jose. Then, last year, I think I took off, probably, almost half of that root ball after being in the grow pot for 2 years...


Hello Smoke...thanks for the reply and yes, if this one responds liek the one from last year. It will grow like crazy over the next year. Also, I only use organic fertilizer. The pellet kind. I do not use any liquid fertilizers, organic or other wise. I have been just using pellets for a few years now and I love the result. Also, I learned that many Japanese bonsai growers also ony use organic pellets and no liquid fertilizers.


As far as the terra cotta, it is not that I hate them, by any means. its just that my trees are all together in one area. Most, are in some what nice pots, even the ones in training are in kind of over sized bonsai pots. The terra cotta just seems to stand out ans almost interfers with the flow of the wall...lol.... However, terra cotta is a breathable material and actually is a good choice for a grow pot.


Thanks Will Heath for your compliment as well.


Hello cquinn.......lol........Yup, selling them can be profitable. The owner of the bonsai nursery where I go had suggested that I should train some trees like this and he would buy them or give store credit. I am half thinking about trading this one in. Providing it lives. I will probably assess it in about 2 1/2 months and see how it is doing.


Hello Bill S.thanks for the nice comment.. And yes, I also, most of the time, put a piece of wire to designate the front. When Istyle a tree,,I tend to be extremely meticulous on the exact angle for a front. I mean, I usually do the traditional styling of a bonsai having the best view when you are viewing it in the middle of tree. However, with many of my trees, a slight turn will change the design. Not in a bad way, but sometimes with even a slight turn, a flaw is exposed etc.....

Although it is a good thing if a tree has a beautiful 360 degree look. I don't think it is possible all the time. The giant Blue Atlas cedar literati I have is a perfect example of this. It looks really different. With the view from both sides. The back however, is not bad.

One thing I have noticed, on some trees when you have a really well balanced, great looking front, when you turn it around, sometimes you also have a great looking back, not even becasue you tried to get a great looking back, it just kind of happens on it's own. However, this is not really the case in most instances.

Rob

 

[JasonG]

hi October.


Sorry for hi-jacking your thread..... your tree looks nice, I like the drawing you did too.....again sorry!

Jason

 

[october]

lol....No Need to apologize, what so ever, Jason G....I have been on the sites for a few years and know it happens. I do not mind at all... There are many different opinions and if people feel they need to express them, that is fine. I love bonsai and have so much fun with it...

Everyone should always remember this quote that I heard a couple of years ago.

" No tree, has branches foolish enough to fight amoungst themselves."

Anyone who does bonsai is all part of one big tree............ The seasoned, more experienced, older branches on the bottom, and the newer younger branches on the top. Even though there is a vast difference in age and experience of the high, low and in between branches..none fight amoung themselves...

Rob

 

[milehigh_7]

Rob I want to thank you for teaching what can be done with "gasp" big box store material. You always post such nice work. Thanks for continuing our education.

 

[Anonymous User]

Man....I know better then to get into this......

You don't have to, I addressed all these objections in the articles linked to in my eariler post, no sense rehashing them in this thread, it has been done.



October,

Great job once again on nursery material! Obviously you haven't heard that you can not create decent bonsai with such material.


Keep us updated.



Will

 

[october]

Thank you much milehigh_7. We are all learning, all the time.....I have been fortunate enough to have access to 2 really great teachers over the years....For many years, much of my learning has also come from just looking at trees and viewing them....I will spend hours at the nursery just lookinh at trees. How they were wired, what was done to correct flaws.......When I look at a tree I admire them all, but at the same time am studying them... Especially in the workshops. People bring their trees and I study them. lol.....(That's right Dav4, if your reading this, I always look closely and study what you bring to the workshops). I consider myself a student of bonsai...I have always felt that every tree deserves to be the best bonsai it can be. I do not compare one tree to another.. If we were to do this... many would not work on trees because of the beautiful japanese masterpieces that we see pics of. I have felt that learning bonsai is about more than learning skillful techniques. I think it is more that we learn to greater interpret what the tree is trying to tell you.

Hello Will Heath.....That was a funny comment about not knowing that the material could become something. I guess it's, what I call, the Bug's bunny syndrome... Like when he or another character would walk off a cliff but not fall because he did not know he walked off the cliff...lol...

Rob

 

[october]

p.s. WOW.....lol.....I $6 has produced a pretty long, exciting thread...lol

Rob

 

[bonsaiBlake]

bump

Doing some research for the 30$ juni comp and ran across this thread. . .
Hows this tree lookin 5 years later?

 

[Paradox]

Id like to know too.

I am amazed you could remove that much foliage and have it live.

 

[bonsaiBlake]

This thread also touches on another subject relating to the up and coming events. . .

The whole finding a front debacle that happened in the thread is rather relevant since we are only allowed 1 frontal photo and 1 top shot. (I'm not opposed to this rule in any way nor trying to stir anything up)

 

[october]

I forgot all about this tree. If I remember correctly, I think the tree died. It was 5 1/2 years ago. I don't really do these side projects anymore. They were just something to fill the time and need to work on something when my good material was not being worked on. I just concentrate on a small amount of good trees now.

Rob

 

[Vin]

This thread also touches on another subject relating to the up and coming events. . .

The whole finding a front debacle that happened in the thread is rather relevant since we are only allowed 1 frontal photo and 1 top shot. (I'm not opposed to this rule in any way nor trying to stir anything up)

The reason for the rule is to make judging as simple as possible. The Judge is going to have to look at a lot of trees and although I agree photos from other perspectives would be nice we need to keep it simple. We will probably be adding a third photo to the mix. I forgot to add the "as purchased" photo. Your thoughts?

 

[bonsaiBlake]

To be honest im just so excited to be involved in a bonsai comp of any type I could care less how we enter. I think I the one frontal picture rule is perfect. Esp. for someone like me who has only seen "real" specimen bonsai in 2d online and in pictures, never any in person