Doll houses covered in dust

Artist Maria A Lopez created her "dust houses" for her Masters in art in Philadelphia -- cardboard dolls' houses covered in vacuum cleaner dust.

Childhood memories mixed with the stories of others gave context to the project. Houses that represent the "American dream". Generations that lived and inhabited the space but only their dust is left to see. Dust as a witness of the living. Only memory.

The pieces are doll houses covered with vacuum cleaner dust. The architecture of the houses is carefully selected to match them with familiar urban landscapes.

dust houses (via Make)

• [LogrusZed]

  Yeah, neat. The MFA is such a valuable degree.

  Seriously, I’m not saying it isn’t art but you don’t need to go to college to glue dirt to cardboard.

• [jetfx]

  Wow, I’ve never seen an artist do such a penetrating critique of the American Dream! I never realized how vapid and dusty life in the suburbs is.

• [anthony]

  Do you think no such critique is necessary, or has there been one you prefer over this?

• [LogrusZed]

  anthony:

  Well many people certainly can benefit from instruction in technique for drawing, or painting or sculpting. But how much technique does it take to do this?

• [Ugly Canuck]

  Very good.

• [pugdaddy]

  What is dust made up of?
  “Dust is made up of a variety of things from blowing dirt, bacteria, pollen, pollutants, molds, animal dander, hair, decomposing insects, fibers, dryer lint, insulation, dust mites and their excrement, and mostly, skin flakes that humans shed.”

  um…. yuck!

• [benjiwenji]

  @8 of course you don’t have to, but you CAN and that imho is a jolly good thing.

• [anthony]

  You don’t have to go to college to draw, paint, sculpt or shoot film, either.

• [studio2f]

  “The architecture of the houses is carefully selected to match them with familiar urban landscapes”

  Or they bought cardboard houses and glued dust to them:

  http://www.joannehudson.com/shop/flypage/product/paper_mache_house_set

• [porkchop]

  The architecture of the houses is carefully selected to match them with familiar urban landscapes.

  That doesn’t look much like a real house’s architecture, to me. It just looks like a tiny, one-room dollhouse.

  It would be much cooler if the house model looked real.

• [studio2f]

  Her earlier work looks a lot more realistic:

  http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/28/vacuumbag-dust-house.html

• [dnafrequency]

  Ewwwww! I hope he wore gloves and a mask. Vacuum cleaner dust is *disguuuuusting*

• [Bruce Arthurs]

  This sort of thing is what I call “transitory art”. This is the kind of art that provokes a “Hmmm, interesting,” reaction from the viewer, but little or nothing beyond that.

  In this case, my own “Hmmm, interesting” reaction is more to the novelty of the medium used, than to any great depth of meaning.

  “Hmm, interesting. Next artist, please.”

• [bardfinn]

  An MFA will also allow you to get a job whose threshold requirement is “Master’s degree or above” without the “or equivalent experience in the field and excellent references from others in the field” exception.

• [anthony]

  Logruszed,
  It’s hard to assess the qualities that compose a given work of contemporary art. Does everything this work have to offer stop at something like technique? To do something relatively original with humble materials may be harder to learn than a more traditional skill set. This art is relying on your acceptance of the material choice as part of what the artist is trying to communicate.
  This is not to say I love the thing, by the way.

• [technogeek]

  There’s someone who is doing some nice work creating “paintings” using dryer lint in various colors as the medium. Can’t remember the artist’s name offhand, but these are often exhibited at Boston-area SF conventions.

• [benjiwenji]

  The architecture of the houses is carefully selected to match them with familiar urban landscapes.
  …is quite frankly a silly art school thing to say…and exactly the sort of thing I would have said myself. Translated says…’the way the house was built, was to look the same as the other houses.’
  I think they’re great however. Welldone dustyhouseyperson.

• [Jeff]

  Ah, the good ol’days: little house on the dust bowl.

• [jackbird]

  An MFA is very useful for getting jobs teaching drawing, painting, sculpting, or gluing dust to houses at one of teh aforementioned institutions, which provides a basic living wage (and sometimes health coverage) while facilitating continuing to make one’s own art.