LESS IS MORE
"Simplicity is difficult, not easy.
Beauty is simple.
All unnecessary elements are removed –
only essence remains."
- Alan Hovhaness
Japanese aesthetic embraces this idea. It
is especially relevant when preparing a bonsai
display, since the viewing time frame is
limited. The display as a whole needs to
make an immediate, harmonious impression;
then individual elements are noticed and
appreciated. The first element that draws the
eye must be the tree itself, not the pot, the
stand, or accessories.
Most of us have a limited number of pots,
stands, and companion plants available to
choose from. Therefore combinations are
often far less than optimal. It is necessary to
physically assemble a display well in advance
of an exhibit; simply mentally planning the
display involves too much wishful thinking!
("I have a beautiful flowering companion
plant; I'll use it in this show." But on the
morning of the exhibit, it turns out to be much
too large in relation to the tree. Because of
time constraints, it gets used anyway and
totally overpowers the display.) One of the
most frequent criticisms of displays that I
have heard from bonsai experts giving
critiques is that the accent plants are too large
for the trees. Attending critiques is an
extremely valuable learning opportunity, by
the way. I consider it to be the best value for
the money at any bonsai conference.
One way to achieve well-designed
displays is to limit one's collection to fewer
trees, keeping only those with a serious
chance of being exhibited with pride in the
future. Then one can search for a proper pot
that suits each tree, and that works well with
them, and an accent plant the proper size that
is especially appropriate to the landscape
setting the tree represents. I is better to have 5
really good trees in harmonious pots with
appropriate stands than to have 50 trees in ill-
suited pots and no appropriate stands or
accents. Are we capable of such discipline?
That's what auctions are for! (Both acquiring
and weeding out.)
Both custom and superstition play a part
in Japanese aesthetics, but Westerners need
not feel bound by ideas not relevant to their
culture. For example, the name for the
number 4 in Japanese sounds the same as the
word for death; therefore grouping 4 of
anything is not considered auspicious. In
spite of the Japanese preference for odd
numbers of elements over even numbers,
there is no real aesthetic basis for this idea.
Likewise, the Western superstition about the
number 13 being unlucky need not prevent us
from using 13 trees in a grouping!
Japanese culture inserts much symbolism
into aesthetic matters; certain associations of
plants, animals, seasons, colors, etc. are
understood by the society as a whole, much as
our culture finds it natural to associate
poinsettias and holly with the Christmas
holidays. (Do you ever see poinsettias in a
home at any other time of the year?) These
cultural associations are not aesthetic
principles. There are, however, some relevant
aesthetic FACTS that can be applied to bonsai
design and display. Here are a few.
Perspective:
Objects can be made to appear closer
and larger by placing smaller things behind
them, which is relevant to group plantings.
This can be achieved in very little space (the
width of a bonsai pot). Try planting really
tiny trees toward the back. To preserve logic
in such a group, the branches of the "distant"
trees should start lower than the first
branches of the larger trees in the
foreground. '
Making good use of back branches also
conveys a feeling of depth in a single tree.
For those of us who have learned bonsai
design mainly from photographs, it is all too
easy to design "two-dimensional trees" with
too few back branches.
Proportion:
There is much mystique surrounding
ideas such as the "Golden" this-or-that and
other measures of proportion, but in
practical bonsai design this strict adherence
to ratios is not very useful. For example, a
curve in a trunk or a diagonal trunk line can
throw the whole calculation off when it
comes to placing a tree in a pot. One really
needs to simply stand back and take a
careful look at the tree or group of trees;
with even a small degree of artistic
understanding a person should be able to see
what looks best. The size relation of trees
and accents has already been mentioned.
Naturally the ratio of tree and companion
planting will not be the same as in nature,
where a 40-foot-tall tree may have a 4-inch
violet growing near its base. But an accent
plant should be far smaller than the bonsai.
Having the bonsai raised on a stand with
legs and placing the accent on a flat slab
helps with proportion perception.
Complexity:
Intricate detail draws the eye forcefully.
This can be a problem in two areas
particularly: stand decoration and
companion plants. A stand with much
ornamentation will upstage all trees except
the most powerful ones. The stand should
practically be "invisible" in a display; a
stand that is the right size, shape, and color
for a tree will not be at all memorable!
Very elaborate companion plants (with
long tendrils creeping luxuriantly out of the
pot, for example, or masses of very showy
blossoms) will draw the eye to themselves
instead of taking second place to the tree.
"Less is more" really matters with accents.
The idea is not to exhibit a lush horticultural
specimen but to help "set the scene": to
evoke a season, a habitat, or a feeling.
Detail:
The ideal is uninteresting; particulars
add individuality and charm. Interest can be
added to a tree by attention to small details
that may deviate from the rest of the design.
A standard bonsai specimen may be
enhanced by a delicate branch that takes an
unusual turn, for instance, or an interesting
shari.
The Japanese tend to "design to the
ideal": their mass production of bonsai
insures that most of their trees will be
pleasing to the eye, but not necessarily
memorable. It does take sensitivity and
artistry to allow a tree to make its own
statement rather than adhering rigidly to an
approved template. This is what separates the
bonsai artist from the weekend hobbyist.
Nothing is wrong with either approach, but
the results will differ.
For those of us who don't want (or dare!)
to change a pot during the year, it makes
sense to choose the pot color for a deciduous
tree to look right during the season when the
tree is most likely to be exhibited. There are
now many pots by European and American
potters as well as Asian imports that have
subtle multicolored glazes; when a tree is
ready for exhibition there is a wealth of
wonderful pots to choose from. Just
remember that the pot should not upstage the
tree.
Light versus Dark:
Dark colors tend to recede visually, while
light colors seem to come toward the viewer.
(This has been explained by our· brain
interpreting darker areas as being in shadow.)
Use can be made of this fact in bonsai.
Placing light-colored moss at the front of the
nebari will draw one's attention to that area
and made it advance visually; this is
especially helpful if the front of the trunk is
flat rather than rounded. The trunk of a tree
will "pop out" at the viewer if it is light in
color; in Japan a lime sulfur solution may be
used to whiten the trunks of certain smooth-
barked trees such as beeches when preparing
for a show. The light coloring of jin and shari
on a tree makes them very dramatic design
elements.
Negative Space:
Sometimes "nothing at all" is a powerful
design element. Leaving space between
branches and foliage masses is important in
bonsai sty ling. The open space underneath
the lowest branches of a tree will highlight
the line of the trunk and lower branches.
Finer branches projecting into this space can
be very lovely and add a delicate contrast to
the thickness of the other branches.
Creativity:
It is natural that Westerners should look
to Asian examples when designing bonsai and
creating displays; the art has been practiced
there for many hundreds of years, and those
cultures have very advanced aesthetic
standards. There is also a place for
experimentation and new ideas; even in Japan
styles of bonsai and display go in and out of
fashion over the years. In the West, Nick
Lenz, for example, is wildly creative and also
a true artist. He can "pull it off." In
innovation in bonsai display the only caveat
is this: artistry is nearly always creative, but
all that is creative is not necessarily artistic!
We are practicing an art, and it is important
that we uphold artistic standards as well as we
possibly can. We owe it to our trees and to
the long history of bonsai.
Commentary by Charlotte Smith -- July,
2005
Brandywine Bonsai Society is an educational organization and as a result, the material in this site may be copied for
educational purposes. If large portions are copied, we would appreciate attribution. We welcome links to this site.