“In visual art, horror vacui (literally: fear of empty spaces, also known as cenophobia) is the filling of the entire surface of an artwork with detail.
The term is associated with the Italian critic and scholar Mario Praz, who used it to describe the suffocating atmosphere and clutter of interior design in the Victorian age. ...
Many examples of horror vacui in art come from, or are influenced by, the mentally unstable and inmates of psychiatric hospitals, and fall under the category of Outsider Art. ...
The entheogen-inspired visionary art of certain indigenous peoples, such as the Huichol yarn paintings and the ayahuasca-inspired art of Pablo Amaringo, often exhibits this style, as does the psychedelic art movement of the 1960s counterculture.
The artwork in the Where's Waldo series of children's books is a commonly-known example of horror vacui.”
