Bonsai Display Stands & their Trees

Here’s David Knittle’s caption for this remarkable display: “Honduras rosewood table, 20″ x 8.5″ x 4″ high. It was built for this juniper rock planting displayed at the San Diego Bonsai Club’s Fall 2016 show.” Still wrapping up year end stuff, so we’ll take the easy way out and show you one from our archives (Feb, 2017). It’s a good follow up to yesterday’s post on David Knittle’s stands and some of the bonsai that have been displayed on them. All these photos show here (and yesterday) are from David’s fb timeline. There’s a lot more where these came from 2019 JAPANESE BONSAI CALENDAR SPECIAL … Continue reading Bonsai Display Stands & their Trees

Breaking Bonsai Chains

This highly unusual bonsai display (previously highly unusual anyway – thanks to Robert Steven and others, displays like this are becoming more common) is from 3rd National Xiaopin Penjing & Wild Grass Exhibition. In Roberts words: “The hands sculptures with the broken chains symbolize the theme of breaking through in creativity.” The other day Robert Steven sent us a whole slew of remarkable photos from the 3rd National Xiaopin Penjing & Wild Grass Exhibition along with text that helps shed some light on the nature of the Exhibition. We’ll show you the text in full (below) and just a few … Continue reading Breaking Bonsai Chains

Old Masters Bonsai Displays

Hornbeam (Carpinus laxiflora) forest on a slab and Shimpaku juniper on a spectacular rock. This image captures only half of a display by Grand Master Saburo Kato. This post first appeared here in our earliest days (August, 2009). The displays themselves are from earlier (Bonsai Today issue 43, 1996). Our photo format is considerably larger now and I even cropped and enlarged a couple individual trees for closer views ( a little fuzzy, but might be helpful- see below). Otherwise, though bonsai keeps evolving, masterful bonsai is still masterful bonsai. Each group display in this post is by a single … Continue reading Old Masters Bonsai Displays

American Bonsai, The Unbridled Art of Ryan Neil at the Portland Japanese Garden

I’ve never seen a bonsai displayed like this. Not even in my imagination, and my guess is the same goes for you (unless you happen to be Ryan Neil). This photo is from a show at the Portland Japanese Garden titled American Bonsai, The Unbridled Art of Ryan Neil. We’ve featured the bonsai of Ryan Neil numerous times here on Bark. But never quite like this (though Ryan’s Artisans Cup does share some of the same revolutionary vision). I won’t say much more except to encourage you to visit the Portland Japanese Garden (if geography puts a crimp in that … Continue reading American Bonsai, The Unbridled Art of Ryan Neil at the Portland Japanese Garden

The Truth of Suffering – More Shattered Notions

It’s quite daring to create a bonsai exhibition full of surprising mixed media bonsai displays that introduce elements never before associated with bonsai (see our last post). It’s quite another thing to leap full force into social-political (even religious) commentary. Not something normally associated with bonsai and gratefully so for many I’m sure. Still, whether you like this kind of meta-themed supercharged bonsai display or not, there it was for a short while last October, for all to see. And here are some, but by no means all, of the displays that venture into this very virgin territory (some may … Continue reading The Truth of Suffering – More Shattered Notions

A Revolutionary Tour de Force that Will Shatter Every Notion You Ever Had About Bonsai Display

Halloween (the show was in October)? At first glance you might just see the tree and the cobwebs and miss the hands clutching (persenting?) the sculpted wooden pot. All the photos in the post are from Robert Steven’s 2014 International Bonsai Art & Culture Biennale. Coming up with a title that captures the sheer creative energy of the bonsai displays shown here wasn’t easy (Messing with Bonsai Convention in a Very Big Way was my second choice). Nor is writing about them (way too many hyped up adjectives keep trying to force their way in). I even thought about just showing … Continue reading A Revolutionary Tour de Force that Will Shatter Every Notion You Ever Had About Bonsai Display

Small Is Beautiful

Caught in the act of flowering. This ubiquitous little hawthorn belongs to Morten Albek, shohin bonsai artist, author and teacher. The display appeared during a visit to Denmark by Tomohiro Masumi. Tomohiro Masumi, Morten Albek & Shohin bonsai Rather than bore you with my take on things, I’ll just post a few photos I think you might appreciate. If you want more (photos and information), you can visit Morten’s facebook post on Tomohiro Masumi’s visit to Denmark, or you can go directly to Morten’s website. If you’d like to dig deeper, you can also visit Tomohiro’s website. And then there’s … Continue reading Small Is Beautiful

Companions for Lonely Bonsai

I borrowed this intriguing display from Bonsai Art magazine’s website (I guess you can tell). I like the tree a lot, but it’s the companion that really caught my eye. Companions, accents, shitakusa, kusamono… whatever you call them One thing I like about companion plants is that good ones can have dual functions: you can team them with bonsai to create dynamic displays, or, if they are good enough, they can be displayed alone. This mystery plant from our mystery book easily stands alone. One companion plant keeps three bonsai and a suiseki company in this circular shohin display. … Continue reading Companions for Lonely Bonsai

Elevating the Art of Bonsai Display

Takashi Iura facebook photos. Astounding tree and a very interesting display. Daring display Many of the bonsai on facebook and elsewhere are poorly displayed, though occasionally you see trees where the artist/photographer took the time and trouble to set up a decent display. But none (that we’ve seen) are displayed in such a daring and imaginative way as the trees in these photos. It’s not just the what, but also the where I usually like to see bonsai displayed with a bare minimum of background clutter. The cleaner the better. But in this case, the art of display has been … Continue reading Elevating the Art of Bonsai Display

A Robert Steven Critique & Our Two Cents

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Pemphis acidula that was submitted (below) by Surmardi of Indonesia. Making our point Though Robert doesn’t mention it in his critique, he does remove the background clutter that you see in Surmardi’s photo. To my eye, this change has as much impact on the tree’s appearance as Robert’s other changes. Preparing and photographing trees is a topic that we have discussed in this blog; most recently, in our last post. Surmardi’s original begs the question: why not just raise the tree and photograph it with only the yellow background? The failure to do something that … Continue reading A Robert Steven Critique & Our Two Cents