Too many factors affect our perception of beauty for me to try to recite them
here. But new ways of expressing beauty always seem to meet resistance. Whether it is
the distaste for expressionism many had when it emerged in the late 19th century or
simply a new hair color or style, most of us initially tend to react negatively.
Sometimes we do this with good reason. Other times our tastes evolve to acceptance or
even preference.
Some of this will be affected by one's stage of development as an artist.
Novices tend to quickly become rather polarized in their viewpoint, much like young
people tend to be more passionate and polarized in politics (regardless of affiliation)
than older, more experienced people. Exceptions abound, but that's the way we tend to
evolve.
Very few of us are blessed with the passion, talent, and vision, the soul if
you will, of great artists. And you can tell they are different when you meet them.
While they are different from each other and express in different ways, you usually
notice this when you meet them, right from the start. Kobayashi, Kimura, Liporace,
Invernizzi, Naka, Banting, Guidry, Marchal, Valavanis. They all challenge you,
stimulate your creative juices and get you more excited about what you are doing with
your art.
Well, my next patient just showed up. ;-)
Alan Walker, Lake Charles, LA, USA
http://LCBSBonsai.org http://bonsai-bci.com
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Andy Rutledge wrote:
As I see it, the problem with this whole thing is that many of the pots are
wonderful by themselves. Matched with a tree, however, the two elements compete or do
not compliment each other harmoniously - which is antithetical to our art.
Look at the utter artistic failure of the last "Artful Environments" put on
by the Pacific Rim Collection. There, excellent individual works of art
were combined in an awful mishmash of chaos that was neither beautiful nor
artistic. This same thing generally characterizes the combination of
"innovative" pottery and bonsai tree art.
How this is resolved is beyond me.
Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.bonsai365.com/ zone 8, Texas
Craig Cowing wrote:
Maybe I'm getting to be an old fart ahead of my time, but I generally like a
more serene, classically styled pot. Something that doesn't compete with the tree.
Some of the pots that appear in these competitions, as Andy points out, are nice as
pieces of pottery but would look terrible with trees in them.
Just my $.02 worth.
Craig Cowing NY Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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