There's a local gallery that has a selection of large, temnporary frames in the form of boxes about 1" deep, painted white on the inside, and covered with plex that fits into grooves near the top of the boxes. These are particularly for the display of large prints from artists who are doing "significant" work and are therefore too poor to buy their own frame.
The prints are somewhat loose inside the the boxes, ripple and all, and surprisingly the effect is not too tacky. The print is presented as a physical thing as much as the bearer of an image. One could almost say "elegant" without choking too much. The frame is just deep enough to prevent curl getting out of control, but not too deep to prevent it or to entirely subdue the artist merits of curl.
I'm gonna WAG that the prints are attached to the back of the box by tiny dabs of glue in various places, because the just appear to kind of float. Careful removal with a long, sharp knife edge is indicated in that case. Wonder if you could cobble together something like that with deep sided aluminum section frames?
A few years ago a few Soho galleries got into displaying large prints attached to the wall with push pins. Not for everybody, you gotta be hip.
