The Art of Bonsai Project

Entries for the "AoB / KoB Article Contest" that fall into the artistic principles, history, design or art theory classification will each be posted as separate threads in this forum.

Those articles received that fall into the collecting, cultivation, or styling classification can be seen {HERE}.

Notice:

Please send your entries to Paul Stokes at paul@artofbonsai.org where he will post your summary in this thread. Please read all rules carefully before submitting your entries. All entries that do not comply to the posted rules will be disqualified.

As a blind contest, all names and originating countries of the authors have been replaced with a code and will remain hidden until after the contest is judged.

Please do not comment in any submission threads at all, there is a discussion thread set up for discussion. Any comments in the submission threads will be deleted without warning.

AoB-001

Transcending Artistic Boundaries
This article is an exploration of bonsai’s philosophical and conceptual foundations and their influence on postmodern Western bonsai culture. Within the past decade, influential Western bonsai art has began to surface that resembles the ideology of Chinese penjing. Prior to this movement, Western bonsai art has largely resembled Japanese bonsai—abiding by Japanese styles, perspective, and scale, otherwise known as the rules of bonsai. This bonsai art has been largely created without any conception of its artistic origins and boundaries.