Hi Sean,

Thanks for your thoughtful response and observations. You are correct in
that my text did not address the concepts inherent in (or stay within the
strictures of) penjing. It is important, I believe, that we not generalize
bonsai and penjing as the same thing. They are not. Bonsai presupposes a
host of issues that penjing is not at all concerned with. This was
definitely a "bonsai" book.

As for what bonsai or penjing began as, they are not relevant to this
treatment either. This is a contemporary text for a contemporary art. If
it does not apply to your pursuits with potted trees, I can understand, but
then, it was not meant to (if that is the case).

I would caution you, however, not to confuse "artistic" concerns with
"western" ideals. The things I examine in the book are the "lingua franca"
of contemporary bonsai as practiced in Japan. The top Japanese artists are
"artists" as we Westerners understand the term. There is, of course, a
conspicuous difference between Japanese and Chinese traditions with respect
to potted tree art. This has to be recognized in any examination of the
endeavor and my book was only concerned with "bonsai."

Thanks for your thoughts, however. I know that I'm not the guy to write
anything that has to do with penjing. I don't practice penjing and have not
studied penjing. Them's the breaks. ;-)

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Hayes"
I found it thought provoking but having a very western point of view, a
view
which was thrown into sharp counterpoint as I am currently reading a book
on
Chinese painting. Some basic tenets of western art, like originality -
(and
thus communication in Andy's terms) were to the Chinese painters of quite
secondary importance and what mattered was dexterity of excecution: much
like one might get upset if a concert pianist started ad-libbing in the
middle of a Mozart piano concerto. The Chinese scholars really liked
working
within a set of rules, which is why they managed to keep a civilisation
going for two thousand years.
Thus one thing I don't think the book treats well, and could definitely
benefit from, is an expansion on how cultural and individual expectations
are bound up into the concepts we call art and to analyse whether bonsai
(and penjing before it) were actually what we would consider art forms in
their original conception. We have adopted a concept out of its original
context(s) and are now trying to work out what it means when placed into a
wholly different western context. Since we don't generally have a
tradition
of meditation or magic in the west, we are putting it into a catch-all
bucket we call art.
The explanation is helpful if it helps people enjoy their trees more, and
I
think it will, but for me there is much more going on in the practice of
bonsai than creating an artwork - otherwise I'd go back to painting.
But anyway thanks for putting it out there,
Sean.

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