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 be more obvious than others, but all of these images struck me as pretty good examples).
All of the images shown here are from Robert Steven’s 2014 International Bonsai Art & Culture Biennale.
Let’s leave performance art and political commentary to the performance artists! In my opinion, this stuff has no place in the art of bonsai and iS actually an affront to the art form.
The exhibits are stellar constructions and very creative. But I don’t see that these visually exciting exhibits are even all ABOUT bonsai, never mind presentations OF bonsai. Many would be accurately characterized as art works that incorporate bonsai trees as one material and evocative element among others. So my take: interesting, but if I have to look hard to have the tree come to the fore of my attention, it’s not really a “Bonsai Exhibit” …