Aluminum and Felt wih Glass Throws, 1967

Between 1966 and 1968, Le Va made sculptures he termed “distribution pieces” from materials such as felt, chalk, flour, ball bearings, and broken glass. By exploring the inherent properties of these nontraditional materials and distributing them throughout the given space (such as a gallery), Le Va sought to resist traditional aesthetic principles, notably composition, form, and style. The corresponding drawings, as here, act as diagrammatic sketches for his sculptures and systematically make order out of the seeming chaos that characterizes them. Thus, while Le Va’s sculptures may appear randomly scattered, the drawings reveal that they are, in fact, carefully charted and composed.