Haha. It's lucky that art is subjective, so I'm definitely right :-) I wasn't saying a piece shouldn't stand on its own on first viewing - that is not hospitab

Haha. It's lucky that art is subjective, so I'm definitely right :-) I wasn't saying a piece shouldn't stand on its own on first viewing - that is not hospitable, IMO. I think you misinterpreted what I was trying to say: That I like art that has prismatic qualities, ie, revealing different things when looked at from a different time and place. This isn't mutually exclusive with the first angle you come at it from being beautiful. It's just additive.