bonsaikc

This is a common misconception based on a lack of understanding of horticultural and artistic technique. Bonsai do not all recreate suffering. At their best, bonsai reflect the values of their creators: even the most contorted tree collected from the wild shows the strength to adapt and overcome the most difficult of circumstances. The best bonsai artists attempt to tell the tree's story rather than their own. I would wager that there are no really well-known objectivist bonsai artists, but at the same time I would love to combat the ideas that art is totally subjective and must be approached with the reason and intellect turned off.

I agree that most bonsai would be categorized as decorative art, but there are those that transcend this characterization. Here are three that would most certainly meet an Objectivist definition of art: I suppose my greatest challenge is the mystical worship of "talent" to the detriment of skill and technique, as well as the vague wanderings about "feelings" and "communication" of the work with the viewer. It's all quite silly and even a little blatant.

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking for. Here are a couple of passages which show the extreme subjectivism with which I am trying to deal: Walter Pall-"Thoughts about Viewing Bonsai"

Hi! I joined here some time ago and just lost track of the forum, so I'm glad to be back. I am also having a bit of difficulty with a forceful Subjectivist movement in the bonsai community. There is a group who insist that bonsai is art (which I suppose it can rise to, if done well enough). This group is also insisting that subjectivism is the only way to understand art. http://artofbonsai.org/feature_articles/thoughts.php http://www.artofbonsai.org/forum/viewtopic...f=22&t=2584 I haven't had the pleasure of reading The Romantic Manifesto yet, but it is now next on my list. My difficulty, however, is translating the ethical reasoning of Objectivism into concrete refutation of the folly in these kinds of posts. Does anyone have any suggestions for this? Thanks for your help! Chris Johnston