pushmind publishing: December 2006

Sunday, December 31, 2006

bonsai

"Bonsai is a work of beauty" - somebody had once said, which is so true when one sees the pictures found here.

According to Japan Kogei Bonsai Association, Kogei bonsai is a new art genre which penetrates the depths of Japan's traditional art. "Kogei bonsai is an art form that faithfully creates the trees and plants of traditional bonsai art in forms that are replicas of natural objects, using cloth, Japanese and Western paper, leather, resin, and clay as the principal materials. The techniques of painting and sculpture are embodied in the making of these works. Kogei bonsai, however, is not merely bonsai imitations; they represent an independent art genre that pursues the ideal forms of original bonsai, creating a perfected beauty that outlives that of living trees and plants."

"The artist takes inanimate materials and, at the stage of forming the shapes of trees and plants, plunges into a state of nothingness while pouring his or her full energies into the work. He or she literally breathes life into the object, arousing thereby the emotions and sensations that are produced by natural bonsai and full-size trees and plants."