Q: Brook, let me begin by inquiring about your roots as a penjing artist. How did you get started?
A: Penjing were very much part of my environment when I was growing up. Both my father and grandfather were penjing enthusiasts. My hometown Yangzhou has a long-standing penjing tradition. When I was around twenty, my father formally introduced me to an old friend of his, Professor Xu Xiaobai, who has conducted extensive research of the penjing art as it has evolved over the past 1000 years or so. I first studied penjing under Professor Xu. I also travelled quite a bit to the other areas of China that have a long penjing history and learned from some of the famous old masters there.
Q: In your book Penjing: Worlds of Wonderment, you mention that your two favorite forms of penjing are literati-style trees on the one hand and water-and-land penjing on the other. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
A: I think bonsai or penjing in the literati style most clearly reveal their heritage. They are closely connected with traditional Chinese culture and embody the aesthetics and values of China's scholars. I find that fascinating and challenging.... The modern form of water-and-land penjing is something I developed in the 1970's. I was experimenting with the two traditional penjing forms, tree penjing (bonsai) and landscape penjing, trying to create something new that would be a synthesis of these two forms... I was inspired by the garden art that my hometown is famous for, as well as by some historical models.
Q: In your creations, you often use tropical material. Why is that?
A: Well, alot of tropical material is, of course, very suitable for penjing creation, and tropical material is widely available in China's Southern provinces. I believe that in terms of climate and botanical diversity, Southeastern China is quite similar to the Southeastern seaboard of the United States.
Q: How to you view the relationship between bonsai - what you call tree penjing in China - and water-and-land penjing?
A: Water-and-land penjing typically represents a wider scenery than bonsai. Even if only one tree is used, the emphasis in a water-and-land penjing is on the relationship between that tree and the landscape as a whole. Rocks, mosses and small grasses, the landscaping of the terrain, and the part that's designed to represent water all play very important parts in the overall composition. What matters most artistically is not whether or not an individual tree is beautiful and perfect but whether or not all design elements have been joined together in an aesthetically pleasing way to form an organic, believable landscape.
Q: What about clay miniatures? They're sometimes called "mudmen" in this country, and there are people here who absolutely detest them.
A: Well, it's a matter of individual preference. In any penjing design, clay miniatures are entirely optional. Personally, I think that a well-chosen and well-placed miniature can artistically enhance a landscape composition. A figurine, animal, or boat can help establish the size of the trees, rocks and other design elements. When placed right next to a tiny figurine, even a small tree can look large... Size, of course, has to be believable.
Moreover, clay miniatures can add liveliness to a scene, engage the viewer, and draw him or her into the composition. In China, most of the miniatures used in penjing are fishermen, wood cutters, peasant boys, thatched houses, or fishing boats. They are the emblems of the rustic life idolized by the Chinese scholar. You see, the literati in traditional Chinese society several hundred years ago already knew the meaning of stress (laughs). They dreamed of retreating to a simpler life in the countryside where they could be one with nature and engage in artistic endeavors. In the process, of course, life in the country was romanticized and idealized. This notion of the rustic retreat has been a recurring theme in Chinese arts for a long time. That's why you find the same figurines, boats, and thatched houses that you see in penjing also in Chinese landscape paintings.
Q: That's so interesting.... I guess all along people have viewed the creation of bonsai and penjing as a meditative process, an activity that offers an escape from life in a complex social environment.
A: I think so. And in our modern world, work- and family-related pressures are yet compounded by another factor - the alienation from our natural environment caused by the technologies that permeate our everyday lives. Many of us stand to benefit from just touching a patch of moss, letting soil sift through our fingers, admiring the bark of a tree, or feeling the rich texture of an interesting stone. What's more, when creating a water-and-land penjing, you don't depend on very expensive material to create something artistic. There's no need for unique collected or imported specimens. None of the trees have to be outstanding or perfect. The key to a successful water-and-land penjing lies in the composition, in the way you group the various components together into a beautiful, living, harmonious scenery. This can become a very personal exploration, an inner journey. You can create any kind of landscape that's meaningful to you.
Q: Thank you very much for this interview, Brook. I look forward to your programs this summer.
This article was first published in Bonsai With Tropicals, March/April 1998.