I never thought about
Chinese Bonsai as a tree torture and I was very surprised to see a series of bonsai by Chinese artist Shen Shaomin presented at Frey Norris Gallery. Shen shows them trussed and tugged by the thumbscrew brackets, collars and barricades that engineer their growth.
Shen connects his bonsai sculptures with the Chinese tradition of forcing women to bind their feet from an early age to disfigure them into conformity with a certain ideal of female beauty. But the disquiet that this show provokes has a more immediate source.
It arises from the bad faith of us who have watched silently while the U.S. government sanctioned torture as a tactic in its project of reshaping societies half a world away.
Here is Frey Norris Gallery site
http://www.freynorris.com/.
The issue of bioengineering, with all its dangers and promise, also pulses in the background. The startling presence of the hardware that gives Shen's bonsai their shapes ironically causes a viewer to think about the invisible constraints that shape behavior and thought in ourselves.
I was a little shock when I saw these images. A lot of people think that bonsai technique is cruel. Do you think
Chinese Bonsai is about tree torture?
Susan Brian
10 comments:
It's not any more torture than pruning a rosebush or trimming a dog's toenails.
Torture...plants? Are you serious? Surely you're not serious.
STFU! trees cannot be tortured EVER!! and making connections between this and global politics is dumb-as-hell.
Great pics and some really decent writing. Added to my favorites. Please, bring more!
To bluhiop, lindsay, and christopher:
Its art, its called symbolism.
Nobody is crying over the horrid torture of these trees. They are just trees. Plants. Everybody knows that. Nobody, I repeat nobody, is now or has in the past said that these trees are being tortured.
It is symbolic art which is intended to, and does for those who appreciate symbolism, invoke the images of torture. Its not a picture of a person in chains, Its a picture of a tree in chains, intended to stir up disturbing feelings.
Don't worry, they've embarrassed themselves with their truly ignorant comments. My,with heads that shallow, it's a wonder their brains stay in.
I have several bonsai trees and I didn't train them like these pictures! It looks like they are trying to quickly do what can patiently and kindly be accomplished in years. How fun can squishing them be? You miss the lesson of patience and rewards
I dont understand what this exhibition has to do with "the two edged sword" of bioengineering, and I think the poster has made a pretty big leap to relate the two.
Yes, quite obviously showing the stupidities of torture, but what that has to do with the advances of biotech (both benefical and not so beneficial) is beyond me...
please... someone fill me in.
To stephen
Thanks a lot of commenting. I couldn't agree more! Great explanation. Chinese Bonsai art is very symbolic. Many Chinese artists created bonsai trees looking like an animal, character, or person.
Hmm..I definitely understand that the art display was symbolic of something else. My comment was addressing the question at the end of the article that asked, "Do you think Chinese Bonsai is about tree torture?"
Do you know what's almost as sad as torture? People who are so painfully passive aggressive in their real lives that their only outlet is flaming people on the internet. Try and find help, people.
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