But he kept his audience at an esthetic distance.

The amazing part is that if you can go the esthetic distance with this playwright, you may find yourself inspired to take the other, more intimate, much more dangerous leap, too.

The most adventurous of the three, Mr. Berne mixes elements of free jazz, pop and chamber music into a musical soup that keeps its esthetic distance from any movement.

Mr. McConkey says this avoidance stems from his need for "a psychological screen, or necessary esthetic distance."

Jokes, reverie and irony, all a critical and esthetic distance from the source, have taken the place of emulation.

The whole sordid story unfolds from a safe esthetic distance.

Being in the United States, he added, gives an "esthetic distance from the hot spot.

Gilded curves gave way to sensible black wood in middle-class bedrooms, and things like the hand-carved bargueno, or cabinet, seemed a long esthetic distance away.

While other conceptual directors in the experimental theater, like Robert Wilson, maintain a cool esthetic distance from their work, she plunges into her art with a passion.