Vision of My Soul

"You may want to take a look at this," Grey Anderson, the owner of Nee-Hai Bonsai in Fresno, California, said with a smile as he handed me a copy of Robert Steven’s new limited edition book Vision of My Soul. Being the pragmatist that I am, I was initially put off by the flashy cover with its raised gilded silver leaf inlay, but I have never been one to judge a book by its cover, so I opened the thick form board cover and began leafing through the book.

Grey had sat back down on the wooden stool behind the counter and folded his arms across his chest, smiling. He knew I was always looking for new books to read. After a couple of minutes he asked," Well, what do you think of it?"

I was captivated by the trees I was seeing, and I knew immediately that I was looking at the work of a gifted new bonsai artist. "Beautiful," was all I could say.

"I thought you'd like it," Grey said, still smiling. "I only have two copies left."

"I want both of them," I said absently, as I studied the beautifully crafted Pemphis acidula literati on page 87. Although it was a work in progress, I was already in awe of Robert's work.

At $50 the 166 page book is a bit pricey, so I would understand if you do not presently own a copy of Vision of My Soul. However, with a first edition printing of only 1500 copies, each signed by the author, I do not imagine it will take very long before it is out-of-print and no longer available. If you are thinking about waiting until December for Santa to bring you a copy, you may just be too late.

I would like to begin this book review by stating that, in my opinion, Robert Steven’s trees are excellent. Strangely, my favorite section of the book focused on some of Robert's works in progress. Pairing photographs of the trees with the author's own drawings of how he envisions the tree's eventual appearance, were stunning. They are fascinating studies in art that concentrate upon the limitless variations of beauty that abounds in nature’s imperfections set in interesting, unique, and original compositions that reflect a rugged, yet almost ethereal style. Judging from the compositions featured in this book, Robert Steven is a masterful and prolific talent who has already surpassed the contributions to the art of bonsai and penjing by nearly all of his contemporaries. Even if he never creates another composition, which I hope will not happen in my lifetime, I believe Robert Steven’s name will remain among the great bonsai artists for decades to come.

Although I like Vision of My Soul very much and adamantly recommend that you purchase a copy, I have very mixed feelings about the book for several reasons.

First, I think the book would have been far, far better had Andy Rutledge not been its editor. Anyone who is familiar with Mr. Rutledge’s “bonsai is art” diatribes on various internet bonsai web sites can easily recognize that the first chapter of this book is very heavily influenced by Mr. Rutledge’s personal views. If you doubt this statement, I would suggest you download and read a copy of Andy’s e-book Artistic Foundations of Bonsai Design. Andy’s book, if you can overlook his self-assured and soap-box style and primer-like prose, is actually quite thorough in its discussion of the artistic elements necessary to designing good bonsai. As one reads the first chapter of Vision of My Soul. Mr. Rutledge’s didactic style and total obsession with convincing the reader (and himself, it seems) that bonsai is in fact art does a definite disservice to the book. One of the primary responsibilities of an editor is to ensure that a book is well-written and adequately reflects the author's message, not to inject it with his own personal views and biases.

Secondly, although Robert Steven’s bonsai and penjing compositions are truly beautiful and inspiring, I would disagree with his statement that he has created his own artistic style of bonsai. In my opinion, what he has accomplished is little more than a distinctive meshing and blending of Japanese and Chinese aesthetic design principles into his often awesome creations. Simply choosing and employing design elements from different schools does not a new style make. He is most certainly an artist on the "cutting-edge", and nothing I have just said is meant to detract from his talent.

In conclusion, I would like to say that if ever there were a book which addressed the need to wash your hands before reading it, Vision of My Soul is just that book. In my opinion, the book is far too “artsy” and blatant evidence once again of Andy Rutledge’s invasive editorial approach. The overly introspective title, the thick form board cover, string binding reminiscent of a scrapbook , and the dark reddish-lavender cover, complete with a raised silver leaf inlay, are obviously Andy’s unsuccessful attempts through artifice and overstatement to portray himself as an artistic editor. As I said before, a book should focus on the author's work and words, not the editor's. Hopefully, the second printing of this book, which it so richly deserves, will pursue a simpler approach to presenting, not overpowering, the awesome art of Robert Steven sans Andy Rutledge.