Hey all,

As another installment in my defense of the role of artistry (artificial
affectations to evoke reality), I offer the following examples:

Movies

In the movie "Saving Private Ryan," the director (artist) chose to render
the color in the film toward the muted side. The colors were not crisp and
realistic, but rather artificially muted. This was an affectation that was
effective because most viewers have a mental concept of that period based on
antiquaited footage and old movies where the color is absent or muted. The
result of this non-realistic affectation is that the movie experience was
"more real" for viewers. Artistry is a slave to human perception.

Movie soundtracks usually constitute far more than 50% of the viewing
experience. This might seem odd since real life has no soundtrack. Dramatic
events in real life occur most often with nothing but the ambient sounds of
nature/city/home/car/etc.. Case and point: Imagine the movie "Jaws" without
the familiar soundtrack theme for the shark (Dun dun dun dun dun dun....).
That movie would have been a complete flop without that theme. The public's
ensuing fear of sharks and the ocean in the years that followed the release
of that film would likely have never surfaced as a result of the movie. It
was the music that produced all the fear. The fake shark was just a
supporting prop.

More on soundtracks; while good moviemaking can be accomplished without the
use of a soundtrack in every (or most) scene(s), an inappropriate soundtrack
will completely ruin any chance of the desired viewing experience.
Interesting how something that has nothing to do with real life drama has so
much power.

By the way, the idea in bonsai that the pot is like the "frame" of a
painting is not one that I support. I rather believe that the job of framing
the work is best performed by the stand. The pot is the soundtrack. The pot
establishes the entire mood. The tree just supports it. Screw up the pot and
nothing about the bonsai will work.

FWIW

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

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Movie soundtracks usually constitute far more than 50% of the
viewing
experience. This might seem odd since real life has no
soundtrack.

Oh, not true -- on several fronts.

Think about shopping malls, department stores, barbershops (or,
as they call themselves today, "salons"); even my gas station has
a soundtrack these days!

And then, there's a personal soundtrack. In my younger days,
music played a big part in my life as Jackie and I trekked from
folk venue to folk venue with guitars, banjo, and autoharp.
Then -- and to a large extent, now -- there always was/is a
mental soundtrack humming around inside my head. (Yeah, I know .
.. . ;-).

Movies just capitalize on that.

Mostly in fun . . .

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - "People,
when Columbus discovered this country, it was plum full of nuts
and berries. And I'm right here to tell you the berries are just
about all gone." -- Uncle Dave Macon, old-time musician

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Screw up the pot and nothing about the bonsai will work.

I've seen this happen. My Osteomeles is in too big a pot and it is driving me
crazy. I am waiting until December to repot it because the last time I repotted
it was December & I know it is safe.
There was a case in last spring's MidAtlantic which was a real disaster. The
exhibitor was exhibiting the handmade pot, but the three trees in it were
reprehensible.
However, the right stand can also enhance a pot & the wrong one can be very
damaging. I can think of another case from the MidAtlantic. There was a
graceful, elegant cascade in the back room which was completely messed up
because the stand was a piece of rough timber.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

By the way, the idea in bonsai that the pot is like the "frame"
of a
painting is not one that I support. I rather believe that the
job of framing
the work is best performed by the stand. The pot is the
soundtrack. The pot
establishes the entire mood. The tree just supports it. Screw
up the pot and
nothing about the bonsai will work.


On a more serious note (brace yourself, Andy), I tend to agree
with Andy here. Especially in the smallest trees -- the ones _I_
prefer -- the pot plays a much more important role than merely as
a "frame." The wrong pot can entirely spoil a tree. I notice
immediately when a tree is in a pot that (I think) is too large,
or too small. I also react when the color is wrong for the
tree -- though I may think about it for a moment in case there's
something the grower was trying to tell me that I missed (and
oftentimes, there probably was, but still a bright red pot and a
Japanese black pine doesn't do it for me -- maybe the torii
gateway?;-).

But is it the stand that is the frame, or the overall environment
in which the tree is displayed? I doubt that most of us have
spent a whole heckuva lot of money to have THE stand for each
tree. (It's easier for me, of course, since my stands are
measured in centimeters, rather than inches. But even here,
witness the query I put on the gallery about the lotus leaf
stand; good ones cost! That one, I was told, would cost several
thousand dollars!) For me, at least, the frame for the tree is
the stand and the table, and the background on and against which
the tree is viewed.

Our local show, for example, is always outdoors. The setting is
lovely -- the sculpture garden of our local art center -- in
whose education wing we have our monthly meetings. But the
green, busy background is a terrible one for our bonsai. We have
taken to putting bamboo screens behind all the tables to mute the
lack of contrast, but that always looks makeshift.

This is, I think, why virtually all of the major Japanese
exhibits are held indoors (against plain, white walls on which
kakemono can be hung) and the few that are outdoors display the
trees in individual, sheltered alcoves -- miniature tokonoma.

In most of our shows, the table is too low. also, and viewers
have a god-like view that looks _down_ on the trees. NOT the
best frame!

We westerners don't have built-in "frames" for our trees as do so
many of the old-style Japanese homes -- the tokonoma. In my
house, I've set aside a corner with a Sendai chest that I use for
display of my netsuke and (usually) one of my trees (there's a
recent "think small" {or something like that} discussion on the
gallery, showing the corner). That seems to work (for me).

Anyway, Andy (as usual) led this discussion in an unsuspected
direction. I thought I was going to see something on Walter's
"naturalistic" style vs. "cookie-cutter" (or something). ;-)

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman

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