Los Angeles-based artist Allison Cortson uses dust to paint the background of her artworks and called it Dust Paintings.
She said, "I was sitting on the couch watching dust particles float around in the light coming through the window and the idea came to me. I'm interested in the fact that the older we get, the more dust we create - it is made up of 70 per cent dead skin. I enjoy painting people and thought dust would be the perfect material to represent them in their own environment."
"For these portraits, I photograph the subject in their home. Then over a period of months I collect the dust from their home via their vacuum bags."
"Dust arrives in our homes as a remnant of our own existence and degeneration from decaying particles from our bodies and objects. The painting is completed by rendering the subject in a realistic manner with oil paints and the rest of their environment is made solely out of the dust from their home, which I sprinkle on the canvas and manipulate with a brush. When finished the dust is coated with an acrylic sealer."
She sprays the painting with a sealant so it permanently sets and does not cause problems for allergy sufferers.
It took around a week or two (depending on the size) to finish a painting.
"There aren't any special tools I use, except a fine mesh strainer I bought from a cooking store to sift out the dust".
Check her website: http://www.allisoncortson.com/index.html
Images taken from here
Dust Paintings by Allison Cortson
The Dust Art by Paul Hazelton
This is the proof that dust is not always bad, you can easily transform that dust in good material for something beautiful. Who would say that something like dust can be artistic? This just says that art has no limits.
From Dust To Art - British artist Paul Hazelton makes these amazing sculptures from household dust
"Humans were supposedly made from dust, so it is interesting to create other things with it"
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He said, "It all started when I noticed the dust on a mask and was able to pull it off."
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"I started collecting dust and working with it, finding ways of turning it into three-dimensional structures."
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Paul collects dust from furniture, pictures and window sills – but not vacuum cleaners, which he says contaminate the waste.
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He then wets it, shapes it and carefully dries it.
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