A theatrical self-portrait nods to the work of fashionable painters like Kurt Kauper and John Currin but doesn't seem out of place here, proving that inside-outside distinctions can evaporate if the context shifts.

Public or state ownership of industry is viewed as a temporary measure during the transition from capitalism to socialism which eventually is displaced by common ownership of industry as state authority becomes obsolete when the distinction between classes evaporates.

I've a sense that the online-offline distinction will evaporate completely in the next five years - we will just be "on", all the time.

But while it is a two-party state, Mr. Upmeyer said, the distinction between the two parties is evaporating, and so is their authority and power.

V. But the distinction between photograph and reality - as between spin and policy - can easily evaporate.

I soon realized that the artificial distinction I had built in my mind - between fitting the clubs and changing the swing - was rapidly evaporating.

When Asher arrived, the theoretical distinction between the kinds of books Grove would seek out and those favored by W. & N. evaporated.

While intelligence officials acknowledged there was no direct connection between those grants and the espionage that has been alleged, the distinction has largely evaporated in the fury of Russian reaction to the spy scandal.

The old distinction between tellers and bank officers has virtually evaporated.