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The Future of Bonsai, The Third Dimension
by Will_Heath
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There has been a lot of talk throughout the last year on this forum and others as to what the future holds for the art of bonsai both in America and elsewhere. I have given this a great deal of thought over the last couple years and I believe that I know where the future bonsai will go and what will make it better, more advanced, and greater than it has ever been before.

First let me explain where I think bonsai as an art falls short. We often talk about the four-dimensional art form that makes bonsai what it is. We talk a great deal about depth in bonsai and about avoiding two-dimensional trees, yet we choose a "front" as a preferred viewing angle for our bonsai. We take advantage of this "front" to carefully arrange branches and foliage to hide flaws. We painstakingly select the best view of the tree and then spend our time grooming and defining this one single view. All pictures that are presented of the bonsai are of this "front" and this "front" is also the only view shown at shows.

I believe that only styling and perfecting one single view of a bonsai is simplistic and sorely outdated. I believe that the next major step in bonsai is the creation of truly three-dimensional trees where the bonsai is viewed in a 360° mode and no faults can be hid. Imagine taking bonsai to this step, where chops are no longer hid behind foliage, where two dimensional trees are quickly revealed, where flaws, scars, and mistakes are no longer turned to the back side because there isn’t one. Every single idea and technique of the artist must be perfect from every angle and view.

Can bonsai be shown with a 360° view? They can and are being shown this way already. Click on any of the links on the right side of this Korean site and you will experience truly three-dimensional bonsai. The experience says it all, to see the whole tree, to expose all the artists’ vision, to actually sense the depth, the full, the all of the bonsai for a change.

Styling a tree for viewing from all sides will be immensely more difficult than what we are used to. It will take much more skill and require even more patience than ever before. It will produce better and more technically advanced bonsai. It will also leave simple two-dimensional styling in the past.

Here is the future of the art of bonsai, expanding the perfection, increasing the skills needed, and presenting bonsai to the public in a brand new, more exciting way. Here is what will define bonsai in the years to come and I believe this is what bonsai was always meant to be.

The good news is that there are a few artists here in America that can grasp this concept and are putting out three-dimensional trees. We need to start displaying them in ways such as with The Korean site that will show all of the art and not just a “snapshot” of 25% of it.

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