Abstraction and Mimesis

In Aesthetic evaluation, Mimesis and Abstraction are sometimes contrasted, though the line between them seems difficult to definitively draw. Even the most 'life-like' portrait is an abstraction from its object, simply because of its two-dimensionality. On the other hand, a wild array of blue, white, and red splotches on a canvas could be some painter's imitation of the American flag. A deeper complication lies in the notion of Abstraction itself. In general, Abstraction is the reduction of a manifold of phenomena to a few salient features. But, that is also descriptive of Mimesis. Thus, Abstraction is nothing but Mimesis, with the emphasis on the removal-from-the-object aspect of the latter process.