Ironically, the deepest aesthetic value of an image (whether it is intended by the artist or not) may lie hidden, in latent form, discoverable only by discerning the full inherent richness and complexity of the Gestalt of (the myriad entwined parts of) an image.

But it is also deeper, because - tautologically - a completed image can only reveal what the intentional framing allows it to reveal. It is trivial, because it is really no different from the most basic aesthetic judgement that all exposures depend on i.e., framing. This aesthetic dilemma is both trivial and deep. What got me started was the fact that the best abstracts consist of (or possess) multiple overlapping regions that are just as strong if displayed separately. I'm still experimenting with what to do with a storehouse of marble abstracts (from c.2011) that I recently 're-discovered' on an old hard-drive during my almost year-long COVID-19-induced 'creative convalescence.' While the photographs work by themselves - just as straight images - I've started playing with other ways of displaying them. Postscript / Slightly-convoluted aside on the creative process.

Trove free colormancer