Opinions of Exhibition Display Setup

[Watto]

At the Goulburn Bonsai Society exhibition last weekend there was an interesting display setup and I am interested in the opinions of people. Each year at the show a member or two try to have a display that is a little different to the norm and I would appreciate your opinions on this display.
Last year it was the "floating rosemary" and this year its the "olive on the mountain".
The photos of the exhibition will be loaded this afternoon, trust me.

[greg27]

I think this is one I'd really need to see in person - it's hard to get a feel for eye-level and all that from a photo - but the "mountain" grabs my attention before anything else and holds onto it a bit. It does taper up and lead to a powerful, chunky little olive but then I go back to the mountain again.

Definitely interesting, and my feeling is it works better in person than in a photo. Nice tree, and I love the pot.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

Spatially the two elements may have been better positioned not on the parallel, but rather the accent plant bought closer & the tree/stand a little further back - create some depth?

[Watto]

Greg, the olive needs some wire I reckon but the pot is by Marie Hewartson, very nice.

[Watto]

Good eye KCAR, we should all know that the accent plant and the bonsai should not be parallel and that small change may have improved the display.

[melbrackstone]

It caught my eye when scrolling through the pics, especially because it would have brought the tree up to a good viewing height. We don't get to see trees in a nice viewing position very often! Agree with KCAR about the accent position. Contrast between accent stand and bonsai stand is extreme, but my main concern is that the red can be a little too much of an eye-catcher, and overwhelms the accent a little. Overall an interesting display, thanks Watto!

[TajikBen]

I agree with Greg27 that the large mountain stand is visually overwhelming. It is very interesting, but my eye keeps going back to the mountain. Perhaps if it were a darker colour? Certainly attention grabbing!

[Ryceman3]

I agree with both Mel and KC&R... and Greg27 for that matter (I guess that is pretty much everybody!)
The "mountain" also caught my eye when scrolling through the images, but like Mel, I'm not sure about the table under the accent and how it relates to it.
My thoughts would be to pull the accent forward to alleviate the lack of depth (KC&R's point) and swap out the accent table for a burl or something similar perhaps that might represent a lake or something at the base of the mountain??
Dunno ... at this point I'm pretty happy to see any display on offer - even if it is remotely! Thanks for the relief Goulburn...

[regwac]

Great to see some innovation. More of this and each succeeding display will get better .
I agree with other writers that the mountain is visually dominant , but we must all remember that a two dimensional photo changes perceptions considerably.

[Watto]

Looks like we are on a roll in relation to the dominant mountain, may need a bigger bonsai to off set this?

[melbrackstone]

Looks like we are on a roll in relation to the dominant mountain, may need a bigger bonsai to off set this?

How would you add a bigger bonsai? I'd have thought if it overhangs at the edges that would ruin the whole effect? Perhaps you could slice it into four and make a table to fit in the top, that would take away the whole solid base feel, give you a wider surface, and feed more interest towards the tree?

[Watto]

Mel I was thinking maybe the "mountain", the pot and the tree all point in the same direction which maybe a bit too much "sameness". A semi-cascade tree with some variation away from the straight up and down may work?

[Pearcy001]

*double post

[Pearcy001]

I think the visual mass of the mountain wouldn't be so harsh if the colour was darker. At the moment it is essential that same colour as the tree, giving you no contrast. I've done a crude paint job to show the difference a darker 'mountain' would make to drawing your eye up to the tree. The accent stand is wrong for me too unfortunately. I just painted it darker for the example, but would personally go for something more natural like the burl suggestion.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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[TimS]

Not to my taste but nice to try different things to normal.

I think the comment about the colour is valid, it really dominates the whole, and the tree shrinks in significance forcing you to consciously focus on the tree to see it (at least in the photos( with the stand and the pot being pretty much the same colour.

Maybe displayed on a rough pieces of natural rock, or a fibreglass painted equivalent due to weight constraints could be a better way of creating the mountain without the jarring uniformly cylindrical ‘stand’ drawing the eye so strongly.