[sabah]

Bu arada aklıma gelen bir konuyu daha açmak isterim.

Galiba bonsaisan'ın bir yerde söz etmesiyle adını öğrendiğim bonsai ustası/sanatçısı Walter Pall ile yapılmış bir söyleşiyi okumuştum.

Söyleşinin aşağıda verdiğim bölümünde Walter Pall bonsai stilleri için stil sözcüğünün yerine form sözcüğünün kullanımının daha uygun olacağını açıklıyordu.

Dedikleri bana mantıklı geldi. Bunu da tartışmak gerek galiba.

AOB: Walter, in my bonsai books they describe the standard bonsai 'styles'. In reading an article that you wrote, you mention replacing 'style' with 'form'. What are the differences between the two? Do you feel it is important to the world of bonsai to adopt this way of thinking?

Walter: Well, yes, I think it is very important to get the thinking behind it. What exact words are used is secondary. In general art appreciation the word 'style' means a general feeling, an overall philosophy, an overall general way of going about things, a general frame of mind of the artists etc.

If you go to a museum you will normally find different rooms for different styles. This can be anything from "Early American" to "Impressionist" to "Dutch" to "Roman", "Baroque" or even more differentiated. The word style speaks about the general feeling. If you look at the objects that are made in a certain style you find an endless number of forms. Speaking of paintings the form can be e.g.: landscape, people in nature, people in rooms, lady standing, lady sitting, almost anything that you can think of. But all these forms can, at least theoretically, be found in all or most styles. The standing lady can well be in the Early American or Baroque or modern or any other style.

Coming back to bonsai: styles could be: classical Japanese style as taught in Japan today, classical Japanese style as taught in the West, modern bonsai style, romantic style, naturalistic style, literati style or many others. In all these bonsai styles you would find the known forms: formal upright, informal upright, slanting, cascade etc.

In the bonsai world the word 'style' is not used the right way if you consider the usage in the history of arts. I guess it is because bonsai was first taught by gardeners who had no formal artistic training .

So what is this semantics good for? Well, there are a lot of people out there who think there is only one way to do bonsai "right". The right words bring about the right thinking. They show that there is a great variety of ways to approach the art of bonsai. And, yes, it is an art form and the differences in style show exactly this. If it were a craft there would be one "right" way of doing it.

I think we are on the verge to a better understanding of the art form while it is diverging into different directions at an ever increasing pace just in this moment. It is important to be able to discuss these phenomena in an intelligent way. This is why the exact words are important.