NABF Newsletter #9
Feature #6
A Very Primary Introduction to the
Hows and Whys of Bonsai Display.
By Andy Rutledge
If you're just beginning to consider bonsai display and the
basics of artistry, the many conventions surrounding
traditional bonsai display may leave you confused. Face it,
all of the fussy particulars for how to properly display a
bonsai can prove to be either daunting or maddening. It may
seem easiest to simply ignore the traditional conventions and
just do your own thing when displaying bonsai.
Rather than approaching bonsai display conventions from the
"rules" perspective, it may be helpful to first take a logical
look at what you're dealing with from a natural perspective.
Let's consider the natural elements that you're working with
or working to represent in your bonsai display. Let's imagine
working with a meadow-grown-image elm or maple tree, a meadow
variety flowering plant, and a mountain.
First, imagine these elements in nature and consider your
place in nature. How do you usually encounter these things in
real life? If you're standing out in a meadow admiring a tree,
you're usually closest to the flowering plant. It rests at
your feet. Next closest to you is the tree. After all, you're
not going to be able to admire the whole tree if you're
standing right at the foot of it. Rather, you are standing a
few yards away so that you can take in the whole image.
Lastly, the mountain is far away in the distance.
(Below) This is what most would likely deem to be a
proper order of perspective.
Now that you're reminded of a common natural perspective,
let's apply that to how you want to represent it in your
display. The viewers will be standing in front looking at your
display, similar to the way that you might stand out in that
meadow looking at the flowers, tree and mountain.
Does the image below best represent the way you'd
want to depict that scene?
Probably not. The tree is at the center, perhaps the center
of attention, but it is far away in the background. And the
mountain seems to be in the foreground. That's not right.
How about the image below? Does that look any better?
Not really. This time the flowers, usually the element
closest to you, are far away - farther away than even the
mountain!
No, you want to closely represent the image you might see
if you were standing out in that meadow in the mountain
valley. That means that the mountain is farthest away, the
tree is next closest and the flowers are right up front. That
should look something like this (Image below).
That's more like it. Now let's take that natural
perspective and use it as a template for your bonsai display.
Since a bonsai display must use artistry rather than
literal specifics to portray a scene from nature, there are
other elements you must employ in your display beyond just a
tree, a flower and a mountain. For starters, you have to get
things in the right order, as in the image above. Next, you
have to try and convey the appropriate distances in the
perspective. Remember, closest, near and far? You also have to
account for the relative heights among these elements
(flowers are on the ground, the tree is tall, the mountain
is far away and very tall).
This sort of perspective effect will require some apparatus
and evocative elements rather than literal elements. For
instance, the tree should be shown to be "taller" than the
ground-growing flower, so it should go on a stand rather than
sitting on the floor of the display. The mountain is rather
difficult to bring into a display literally, so use a simple
painting of a mountain hanging from a wall scroll to suggest
that element far away in the distance. The flowering plant
should be in a simple pot and on a simple platform, not just
sitting on the floor of the display. Displaying the plant
without a stand would be too informal and seem haphazard.
As for the placement of the elements in the display, they
should clearly echo the commonly encountered perspective:
flowering plant closest, the tree in the near distance, and
the mountain farthest away. This way, you've got a very
3-dimensional display. The dimension varies from a
front-to-back perspective, a relative height perspective, as
well as a left-to-right perspective. Spreading the 3 elements
out to comfortably fill the display space helps to evoke the
wide expanse of nature. This sort of arrangement makes for a
very convincing and believable image.
Following these advisable considerations, your display
might look something like this (Below).
Now, why not just arrange the three main elements in
another way? Why not just adhere to the front-to-back
perspective and ignore the rest? You could be "different" and
arrange your display like this (Below).
Not very evocative is it? No, this would not look good from
the front, and a bonsai display, like a landscape painting,
has a specific front and a specific viewing angle.
Then why not just arrange the elements "differently" so
that they can all be seen from the specific front ...like this
(Below)?
Again, pretty unnatural and uninspiring. True, it looks
orderly, but nature is not orderly. Nature is off-center and
lopsided. Nature seldom has straight lines or even
distribution or perfect rhythm. That element of randomness and
chaos has to be reflected in your display effort to some
(greater or smaller) degree or it will seem too obviously
artificial. The fact that you are already using a rather
artificial representation of a natural scene means that you
must do everything you can to introduce natural looking
perspectives and rhythms.
So, the display below would represent a rather
natural perspective and use the artificial elements in
evocative ways.
Note the natural, irregular shape of the companion plant
platform. Notice how the tree and the companion plant are not
placed at the same distance from the center of the scroll.
Notice how the foliage of the tree lightly caresses the
scroll, suggesting some connection. The display is neat and
orderly, but not clinical and antiseptic.
Now, how might the elements be rearranged if the tree were
a mountain-dwelling juniper with a tortured trunk and the
companion element was a mountain stone suiseki (no scroll)?
Surely you can see that this group of elements might
necessitate a different perspective and a different
arrangement. What if the tree were a cascading bonsai and what
if the season were winter instead of spring? What if you
didn't have a painting of a mountain, but only a painting of a
cricket? What season would make that painting appropriate?
These are the sorts of considerations that can make bonsai
display an interesting and challenging endeavor. It is also a
part of why artistry becomes important in such displays. You,
as the artist, have to tell the viewer a story, not
merely put some beautiful, neatly arranged pieces of craft on
a table. There's no artistry in that. The entire endeavor of
bonsai is about a story. Creating and recreating and relating
that story, your different stories, to viewers is what bonsai
display is about. I hope that you may find it worthwhile to
try and tell a compelling story with your bonsai. Artistry is
what makes it compelling, but it all starts with a common
sense look at your place in nature.
Author's note: Please forgive the sloppy and silly
images used in this article. I got inspired this evening and
hastily worked this piece up, having to create the images on
the fly. Anyway, hope they helped to get the ideas across. ;-/
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