----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Lewis"
snip
Personally, I'd like to see more "bonsai" displayed with artworks
from the same country. It seems a tad silly for us westerners to
ALWAYS display our trees with Japanese or Chinese art. Unless
we're all making cookie-cutter, Japanese-looking bonsai, they're
OUR trees, OUR designs, and should/could be displayed with OUR
art.
Jim Lewis
--------------------

Jim, your sentiment here is likely shared by many, including myself. For
instance, keeping in mind that the Japanese tokonoma, while based on
Japanese cultural decoration, also (mostly) obeys basic artistry - 3-point
display. This kind of display just _works_. So, why not a Western bonsai
display that also follows this basic artistic convention of 3-point display
(not at all Japanese) with something like:
- an scrub oak or mesquite bonsai (windswept) planted on a large slab
covered in sand
- a small animal skull surrounded by sand (as companion)
- an old, broken wagon wheel leaning up against the backdrop wall
or
- a bald cypress (individual or forest) planted on a slab (I like slabs ;-)
- a ceramic menagerie of alligator eyes, head crown and snout (configured
like one resting below the surface of the water, but looking at the world
above) arranged on a piece of black glass
- a branch, festooned with Spanish moss hanging (like the scroll) from the
backdrop

This is still very much in the context of "bonsai" and still very much
artistic (following basic rules of artistry and human perception) and very
much Western.

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.bonsai365.com/ :: living bonsai every day
zone 8, Texas

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