Scattered Composition

Scattered compositions contain multiple elements irregularly distributed across an artwork’s surface in many directions. While some artists might use chance effect to determine where a paint dab might land on canvas, like many Abstract Expressionists, others have created the same dispersed style through careful and considered application, like Sherrie Levine’s knot works. This category applies not only to the seemingly random patterns found in two and three-dimensional artwork, but also dance and installation art, such as Trisha Brown’s gravity-defying choreography for “Walking on the Wall” or Robert Morris’ “Untitled (Scatter Piece),” featuring industrially-fabricated sculptures dispersed across a gallery floor.