We’ve all seen the recent green movement rise up in popularity over the past few years. It’s affected almost every industry including the arts to a great extent. One particular movement that we’d like to tackle today is the issue of “living sculpture”. I bet you’ve seen those large gardens often spotted amidst locations of royalty or government. These are the ones laden with sculpted trees and shrubs (a good example could be the garden maze that we always see on television and movies.) These are examples of living sculptures, or so people say. Landscape architects and designers argue that this movement is merely an extension of their own profession.
As far as we know, there are a few categories that belong to the movement of living sculpture, some that intercross with landscape design as well. First off, we have Topiary art. This is a more common sight and it engulfs the examples I gave earlier. Topiary art can usually be made by creating shapes or forms from living plants. Select pruning and contour restriction training are some of the techniques of this art. Bonsai is also a product of this discipline that portrays miniature trees as artworks in landscape. Creatively cutting crop areas also qualifies as the creation of living sculpture. Turf or sod-work on the other hand, is a more recent development that has stemmed out of the Land-Art movement of sculpture. They were seen as a way for art to be a direct part of nature and landscape, and were often temporary and large-scale.
Today, there are many that can differentiate living art from landscape design, and there are also those who believe that the two are one and the same. What do you classify as living art?
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