tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731675766765556007.post1617752161530877372..comments2023-06-20T03:38:10.473-07:00Comments on Walter Pall Bonsai Articles: The Fairy Tale Bonsai StyleWalter Pallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398046016738136730noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731675766765556007.post-91736981198085269172014-07-29T15:06:28.967-07:002014-07-29T15:06:28.967-07:00After seeing your Mugo pine 56 I had to ponder aga...After seeing your Mugo pine 56 I had to ponder again these styling definitions of yours. I would see the naturalistic style somehow being at the edge of more accepted "mainstream bonsai", featuring natural forms that are not common enough to be accepted as "proper" bonsai. Thus the naturalistic style seems to slowly feed or inspire "mainstream" bonsai with natural forms, features and some aesthetic ideas that have previously been neglected or seen too outrageous. This idea it is somehow hidden in the pre-modern motto of bonsai: "make your bonsai look like a tree" otherwise said: "art imitates nature".<br /><br />Then this fairy tale style appears to me not just controversial but merely contradictory to what we have been used to see in a pot. Just as modern art has detached itself from aesthetics - which is is considered as just one means of expression - here you say that FTS is not focused on it either; at least not as much as the naturalistic style. Therefore in FTS there is a greater freedom of expression as it is (more) detached from the culture dependent bonsai-rules. And i would also see it inspiring and reshaping the naturalistic style on its turn as well.<br /><br />However, I would think that the interesting aspect about FTS is still the way it treats aesthetics. This is because i do not think that bonsai art is on its way to loosing natural forms as its main reference (say that we would start to make Chinese letter forms or just abstract "unnatural" compositions from small living trees) but (to me at least) the joy and the clue in bonsai is in this play between planned, artificial aspects and seemingly coincidental natural aspects. The FTS opens a new opportunities in this direction without actually discarding aesthetics. It also highlights our, sometimes childish manner to judge nature according to our own preconceived ideas.<br /><br />Romanticism seems to be a significant element in FTS and that´s just wonderful. The fairy tales themselves are often romantic as well, but often also terrible, especially the older ones. Romanticism is about the soul, about being alive just as robust and just as mysterious as the life itself. Could we say that an essential method of expression in a FTS bonsai is to distract the viewer out of ordinary bonsai and aesthetic patterns and thus open him/her for a new unforeseen reality? <br /><br />-infillionAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731675766765556007.post-28212721310016436922014-04-07T23:33:34.148-07:002014-04-07T23:33:34.148-07:00Dear Walter
I have read ALL the articles on the bl...Dear Walter<br />I have read ALL the articles on the blog now; this means the ones in a language that I can understand...<br />One thing I keep asking myself: why are we keeping the word BONSAI? <br />The species we use can be bound to the place where we live, the way we give them a FORM is also related to this. Why still use a word that is so clearly Japanese? It might be a big part of all the controverse about styles and forms. To illustrate this in an absurd way: a quercus robur can never be a bonsai. It can be a POTTED TREE, a ARBRE EN POT, a BAUM IN EIN POT, a BOOM IN EEN POT, but never a BONSAI...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03052504083924666029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731675766765556007.post-85482055155585959502014-03-31T18:46:11.588-07:002014-03-31T18:46:11.588-07:00Fairy Tale Bonsai - pushing the bounds of the bons...Fairy Tale Bonsai - pushing the bounds of the bonsai artists' imagination. <br /><br />Initially I was perplexed by this style, but I'm coming around to it. With sufficient ramification, these trees portrait an ancient character, reminiscent of something out of the Lord of the Rings' Fangorn Forest. I envision a tree of this style in a worn and rugged wooden pot, like driftwood on a beach. To me, a tree with this much character just doesn't fit in a clean-cut bonsai pot. <br /><br />Keep up the good work Walter, <br /><br />-Kirk @ www.localbonsai.comKirkhttp://www.localbonsai.comnoreply@blogger.com