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Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 2:14 pm
by hugh grant
Last weekend was Held the Sydney Contemporary, An arts event showcasing work from contemporary Galleries representing numerous artists.
This year on the bill was Artist Sam Doctor with his work 'You must go on. I cant go on. Ill go on' (2017) as an installation/performative work exhibiting three Bonsai 'Elm' trees as apart of the exhibition. The trees were sourced from David Segal used as a collaborative With Sam Doctor installing the trees within his installation.
The work spoke of "humanity’s fragile relationship to the environment and the precarious teeter between the potential/aftermath of catastrophe. It explored the frailties of the human condition when exposed to nature through the altered environment drawing upon contexts such as the violated industrial landscapes and aftermaths such as Fukushima. The trees acted as quite an oxymoron to the concept and created a settled balance amongst the chaos of the installation. The trees were as such a metaphor to the human aggression upon the landscape as a more respectful insight into the relationship of humanity and nature.
Congratulations to David (Boutique Bonsai) for being represented at this National Event.
Here are a few snapshots of the trees, idiotically i didnt take any pictures of the rest of the installation which makes difficult to put the work into context, i do apologise.
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Images: Hugh Grant
Quoted text:
https://sydneycontemporary.com.au/progr ... -doctor-3/
Trees:
http://boutiquebonsai.com/
Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 2:23 pm
by treeman
hugh grant wrote:
The work spoke of "humanity’s fragile relationship to the environment and the precarious teeter between the potential/aftermath of catastrophe. It explored the frailties of the human condition when exposed to nature through the altered environment drawing upon contexts such as the violated industrial landscapes and aftermaths such as Fukushima. The trees acted as quite an oxymoron to the concept and created a settled balance amongst the chaos of the installation. The trees were as such a metaphor to the human aggression upon the landscape as a more respectful insight into the relationship of humanity and nature.
Tell me you're not serious Hugh!
Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 2:44 pm
by davidhsyd
Here's a couple of better photos. Alas these trees are not yet ramified as I would like them to be but it was a privilege to be involved and to get Australian bonsai exposure at the biggest art event in Australia with upward of 40k visitors
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 2:49 pm
by Davehsydney
Just to clarify - by better I meant closer images of the trees, sorry about that Hugh

Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 3:20 pm
by Leigh Taafe
treeman wrote:hugh grant wrote:
The work spoke of "humanity’s fragile relationship to the environment and the precarious teeter between the potential/aftermath of catastrophe. It explored the frailties of the human condition when exposed to nature through the altered environment drawing upon contexts such as the violated industrial landscapes and aftermaths such as Fukushima. The trees acted as quite an oxymoron to the concept and created a settled balance amongst the chaos of the installation. The trees were as such a metaphor to the human aggression upon the landscape as a more respectful insight into the relationship of humanity and nature.
Tell me you're not serious Hugh!
As Hugh states at the bottom of his post - it is quoted text.
Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 3:29 pm
by Waltron
treeman wrote:hugh grant wrote:
The work spoke of "humanity’s fragile relationship to the environment and the precarious teeter between the potential/aftermath of catastrophe. It explored the frailties of the human condition when exposed to nature through the altered environment drawing upon contexts such as the violated industrial landscapes and aftermaths such as Fukushima. The trees acted as quite an oxymoron to the concept and created a settled balance amongst the chaos of the installation. The trees were as such a metaphor to the human aggression upon the landscape as a more respectful insight into the relationship of humanity and nature.
Tell me you're not serious Hugh!
One of my co-workers just asked me whether I was crying or laughing and I wasn't really sure...

Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 3:44 pm
by Boics
treeman wrote:hugh grant wrote:
The work spoke of "humanity’s fragile relationship to the environment and the precarious teeter between the potential/aftermath of catastrophe. It explored the frailties of the human condition when exposed to nature through the altered environment drawing upon contexts such as the violated industrial landscapes and aftermaths such as Fukushima. The trees acted as quite an oxymoron to the concept and created a settled balance amongst the chaos of the installation. The trees were as such a metaphor to the human aggression upon the landscape as a more respectful insight into the relationship of humanity and nature.
Tell me you're not serious Hugh!
You seem like a really funny guy Treeman.
I for one appreciate your straight up no BS approach to Bonsai and beyond.
Let's face it some really long bow's were drawn between both text and tree's here!
Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 4:13 pm
by treeman
Leigh Taafe wrote:treeman wrote:hugh grant wrote:
The work spoke of "humanity’s fragile relationship to the environment and the precarious teeter between the potential/aftermath of catastrophe. It explored the frailties of the human condition when exposed to nature through the altered environment drawing upon contexts such as the violated industrial landscapes and aftermaths such as Fukushima. The trees acted as quite an oxymoron to the concept and created a settled balance amongst the chaos of the installation. The trees were as such a metaphor to the human aggression upon the landscape as a more respectful insight into the relationship of humanity and nature.
Tell me you're not serious Hugh!
As Hugh states at the bottom of his post - it is quoted text.
Oh sorry. Let me re-phrase.......
Hugh, tell me that whoever wrote this is not serious!
Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 4:18 pm
by Leigh Taafe
Besides all of that - as it is a whole other debate entirely (and has probably been done before).
How awesome is it that Australian bonsai has had an opportunity to be exposed to a potential audience of about 40,000 people at this event?
Re: Bonsai at Sydney Contemporary 2017
Posted: September 14th, 2017, 4:21 pm
by LLK
This goes for the art of description as well. Sorry, Hugh, the concept was not difficult to understand, but the explanation was.
Lisa