Luigi Maggione’s wildly expressive, unusual bonsai with Itoigawa shimpaku foliage that has been grafted onto a Sabina juniper (Juniperus sabina).
There’s a lot to like about this bonsai (I found it while perusing Salatore Liporace facebook feed) including just how strikingly unique it is and that way it jumps off the page and demands your attention. There are also some issues that might be called faults.
Which begs the question of what constitutes a fault and also why bother to find faults at all (answer; finding faults doesn’t make you a hater* if you use them as learning tools – we learn from mistakes and can always improve).
One type of fault has to do with health – in this case the way the moss is fills the pot which may inhibit aeration (drainage) and the way it’s jammed up against the deadwood, which is sure to encourage rot.
The other type of fault has to do with notions of beauty. A subject far too vast for this time and place, but in a nutshell has, at least in part, to with simplicity, balance and refinement.
In this case I think you might be able to find fault on all three counts (and with all but the very best bonsai) – the deadwood is perhaps a little too busy, especially with all the tiny pieces that would rot and break of in a natural setting; the upside down V shape of the foliage is a little static and lacks interest and the foliage itself lacks refinement.
Still, even with these ‘faults’, I really like this tree. It is daring and unique. Even playful. And anyway, why listen me talk about faults? There’s a good reason you almost never see my bonsai in these posts.
*I’m a hater of the recently popular and always hateful expression ‘hater.’
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