i am an architect & this is a nice idea.but Cor Ten sheets gets extremely hot maybe to 70 C under the sun exposure . doesn't the heat damage the tree leaves and roots?

I learnt a lot as always when I watch your videos Ryan 👍👍🙏

Great video and great bonsai! You are definitely pushing a lot of boundaries here and I get the feeling it will be received very controversially from some. For so many of the new internet bonsai generation, myself included, this will serve as a source of inspiration and reminder to think outside the box. Keep up the great work!

May not be an amazing example but the fact someone is trying is awesome. I want to be Ryan's apprentice! I've been a piercing artist for a decade and obsessed with plants my whole life. 57 potted plants just in my house.

Love this video. I understand now why you're putting this specifically on KZfaq - so it's in the public realm before anyone else thinks of it and puts it out there. I understand that. But in terms of what you've achieved, I'm glad you're doing it! My (very long, essay-style) thoughts as a Architectural professional (MArch), artist, and bonsai beginner: For sure, the abstraction of the organic, geological environment is a valid approach to this piece. As a pot, it works, clearly holds the tree and strengthens the movement of the overall composition. It actually reminds me of a first-year Masters project of mine, where I took abstracted forms of erratics, huge displaced rocks, in Iceland to inform the buildings I designed. There are certain things in terms of material quality I'd point out - it's corten steel, I believe: a very energy consuming, unsustainable material in terms of processing and durability. Is this a narrative that's appropriate in bonsai? Is the aesthetic worth it? And why? Architects now heavily consider environmental stewardship, so if I were a bonsai professional, I'd skip the material folly and get right into contemporary, sustainable practice (but that's just me). Over time, that steel will become thinner and the rust will become thicker. This is a structural issue, for sure, heightened by the consistent moisture of it's occupant. I wonder if partly rusted steel, or un-processed steel would lend itself to a time-sensitive piece. It would change over time, decay with time, patina organically with time. The form is great, but as an art piece, together with the tree, a dynamic material texture could offer something much more beyond a static and uniformly orange canvas. As the steel decays over time (maybe with some man-made help), this could provide opportunities for "re-potting" where the pot evolves with the tree - things are re-positioned, re-balanced etc. Interested in this piece's future! I also think the shape of the pot; the colour value of the pot (colour theory in this case is ever important as you know); the position of the tree; and the nature of the actual "tray", all seem to now hide the features of the tree. It's contrast is a little unbalanced to my eye and so some of the tree's visual qualities are lost in the overall composition. Just some nitpicking, but these nits are the ones that determine that higher level of practice that Ryan loves to talk about. A rich green moss top-layer will absolutely give that deadwood (/ tap-root?) enough contrast to become a prominent feature again. I think the tree stands to be celebrated, and the potting structure may be a little overpowering - this is my opinion - and the real tree seems like a horticultural flex to celebrate the pot as an the art-piece. Either way, this is still a valid approach to the art of bonsai and certainly a path that may emerge to be popular (Kimura's rocks; Mirai's rusted metal). My observations are that US bonsai artists tend to like yamadori due to the historical conflict embedded into the deadwood, the trunk, foliage etc... Is a highly refined, uniformly rusted pot helping this? Is it intended to contrast this? Of course, it is a man-made abstraction of an alpine environment, but is there more subtle, appropriately scaled, or subservient way to show this or something else? Architecture (at least in how I have learned) is about context, environment, narrative etc. But what makes our art as something that is known to be so technical and precise is the appropriateness to scale. And if it's meant to be big like a mountain, you better get your colour values right so as to not overpower the tree! That being said, they are of a similar size, which might be why the composition feels off. Ryan's exhibition "Spectrum" demonstrates a better use of scale and colour value, so you already had the precedent. As bonsai practitioners, you're crossing disciplines with Architecture, so I feel like I have a little bit to praise, add and critique. I think this is definitely a successful piece and a development of a very valid approach. I'd love to get involved so I might start my Mirai Live trial, but for only 7 days, it will certainly not be enough! Well done, guys, and thanks!

Love it. Some critics don't seem to believe that it's ok for art to not be traditional and not represent literal landscapes. Very well done.

Wow. I don’t have your creative vision or. Your skills but I sure do appreciate yours and watching you work. As a 69 year old bonsai beginner I will most likely be a person who plays around with trees in pots and that’s just fine for me. Your videos got me through a knee replacement last fall and keep me creatively stimulated now. Thanks

The video is once again very interesting. The form of preparation for planting explained very well. Shows the creativity of Ryan Neil.

Incredibly creative, I wonder how you will water this!

Wow, Awesome Ryan!!! 👏👏👏👏

just amazing; I fully understand and apprecite your msg of organic architecture. you really are an artist of 4 dimensions

Thats what i was always wanted to see. Fantastic work. There are so many possibilities. I hope we will see a different one. Nice work again guys.

I like the inherit tension and unease between the steel armature and the tree, I think it’s an interesting statement (‘maybe unintentionally) about our relationship with the natural environment, wich in my opinion is more important in art than the work being reduced to aesthetically pleasing eye candy with nothing to say but “Damn I’m pretty”. Maybe it’s not aesthetically perfect as a “bonsai” but I think it is more interesting to view it as art and judge it as such. It provokes a feeling of tension, struggle, incongruity, incompatibility and provokes a visceral response from the viewer, this is what all good art does. I don’t think this vessel is a good representation of organic architecture, I think it’s great, just not organic architecture, I think it is more brutalist than anything else in style, which again plays into the tension between the organic form of the tree and the brutalist harsh man made form of the steel vessel. Maybe bonsai combined with brutalist style cast concrete vessels is another area worth exploring. Some of the most interesting and truly organic architecture is the work of Ma Ya Song (spelling?) of MAD architects. He has stated in the past that he aims to make his work look like Penjing. (spelling), I would recommend checking out their work if you haven’t already.

Wonderful creative project , love it. My best regards to you. From an artist with only 4 bonsai I have grown over 40 years.

this is amazing. thanks for sharing.

An amazing piece of art indeed.

Please put more edited videos on KZfaq ;'( I understand Mirai Live is a business, so I don't expect full-length streams, but as a student of bonsai (and M.Architecture graduate...) who is not making money over lock-down, I'm taking anything I can get at this point!

Incredible.

Fantástico, irreverente , una obra de arte.

this is awesome. who knew.. left a like

Amazing video 👏🏼 very inspiring. You should've saved the video for tomorrow "Root Taco Tuesday" 😂👌🏼

Can't see this tree suffering an iron deficiency any time soon 🎺

Ryan. I have to Say this is a WORLD SERIES Ring in Bonsai Design. Hope to see more of this. Any Webcam outside at Mirai yet to see all the Art Paintings of Bonsai Trees? God Bless an Be Safe. Peace be with you. Greg of Ohio

Lindo trabalho Meus parabéns abraço

AN UPDATE ON THIS TREE PLEASE

Won’t the metal get too hot for the roots? Or would this only be for a show display? That thing is gonna be so heavy to move.

Beautiful peice.

Great creativity and design. Hope the tree would be more of the subject than the metal.

Now that's thinking outside the pot!

Is it possible to see the tree after 8 months? Thank you

I want to see update.

Is posible in spanish

Really different

Boom!

Great like *GREATEST* ! Mind blowing endorphines !

Is this tree still alive? How's its progress?

I feel like the metal structure takes away from the simple beauty of the tree, As a nature lover, this doesnt scream nature to me...its to urban to my eye. But I applaud trying different things, that's what being at the height of your craft/art means...

The trees great,the metal dosent work for me, I'm sure Jan could have made something more harmonious?

Hi I’am a LandscapeArchitect in Europe for more than 30 years and even designed a World Expo as the best designer of my country, but it is truly a No-Go area here, on the othersite of 2 Oceans to be só happy with you’re self that you call out you’re one name in the same sentes as the World Most Famous Architects.....than you know... something is wrong here...

There are too many clashing lines in the design. The tree should be easy and pleasing to look at but in this case it feels forced to the steel and almost uncomfortable to be in this position.

I like the tree but the planting is not to my taste at all. To me it is the bonsai equivalent of the Fiat Multipla car

Why do people now say Bone-Sigh in stead of Ban-sigh? Drive me crazy!

Really...??? WTF

Do i like what is happening here? Hmmm

I've lived my life in the mountains and nothing about that reminds me of the mountains. More like urban art. With some poor street tree

Nope nope nope

Dont like it, sorry