two kinds of minimalist aesthetics

1) On the one hand, there is a minimal effect. This is popular today. It has "clean lines," is pure, is quiet, etc. But it conceals—or reveals, depending on one's point of view—a maximum of artifice. Success depends on control; accident is error; time and weather severely unkind. This kind of minimalism is rarely more than clever, although brilliant examples exist. 

2) On the other hand there is a minimal intentionality. Beauty is accomplished in a single gesture, without adjustment, critique or refinement. The result is no great act of will, but blossoms instead in its absence. To channel this sort of energy similarly requires a massive investment, not toward concealing the artifice (willfulness) but rather in the mastery of technique. Success depends on patience; accident is everything; the passage of time, sacred. This kind of beauty can be hard to recognize, and easy to cheat. 

*