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Tortured Trees: Brutal Bonsai Bondage Art Series 9 years 10 months ago #10825

  • JanMcMahon
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Just read a stupid article about how bonsai is about putting trees in ancient Chinese torture devises and some guy who sees his "bonsai" as his prisoners :angry: or something. Just wanted to share it and hopefully some people will post a comment on that article.



webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/09/10/tortu...eries/1351369023000/

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Tortured Trees: Brutal Bonsai Bondage Art Series 9 years 10 months ago #10827

  • Gnarlwood
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Truly those trees look tortured. However, I believe that was what the artist intended. Personally, I have had several people look at me weird because they think binding the plants is cruel. Also, a friend of mine commented that my bonsai tool set looked like an eastern European torture tool kit.

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Tortured Trees: Brutal Bonsai Bondage Art Series 9 years 10 months ago #10829

  • Auk
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Yeah... I've had that too, some people even comparing bonsai with Chinese foot-binding.
The same people that let plants die a slow death in their homes, force their trees to form espaliers, cut down their roses, clip branches and twigs to create topiary, and basically use the same techniques as we do - just on a different scale. I never quite understood their problem.

I don't like these 'tortured trees' but I guess the fact that I react is proof that this is art, as art is supposed to evoke a discussion... but the artist's conclusion

"Today what we feel and know as Nature has become something artificial, technical, and sociological. Men are fabricating an artificial world of their own according to their personal interests"

is nonsense if he relates that to bonsai (which apparently he does) as Bonsai is not a modern invention, but an ancient art.

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Last edit: Post by Auk.

Tortured Trees: Brutal Bonsai Bondage Art Series 9 years 9 months ago #10969

  • Marvel170
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This guy obviously didn't do any research, or asked questions. Making it perfectly clear that he is not educated, or really cares in this matter. The article is also very poorly structured, or at least I feel that it is because it uses his name in third person. when it is clearly an opinion article... My brother told me the other day that my concave cutter looks like it would be used to cut off someone's fingers, like in mafia or godfather type of movie.

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