A Random Dust Pile

Dust Devils, like the one above, often form in deserts or over flat plains.


"Art is not a pastime, but a priesthood." -Jean Cocteau

"He who works with his hands is a laborer; He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman; He who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist."
-St. Francis of Assisi

A team of two artists got together in Florida last year and did a whole exhibit on dust. It was held in a museum, and many of their works were inspired by or made with the dust collected from the museum floors.

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." -Pablo Picasso

Picasso had some opinions about dust, and some fascinating things are said about dust in this excerpt of a conversation between Picasso and his friend Brassaï in 1943:

Brassaï: In the lower strata of the valley of Les Eyzies, excavation archaeologists had the brilliant idea of preserving a cross-section four to five meters high, with layers built up over millennia. It's like a mille-feuille. In every layer, the "tenants" left their visiting cards: fragments of bone, teeth, flints. In a single glance, you can take in thousands of years of history. It's very moving.

Picasso: And you know what's responsible? It's dust! The earth doesn't have a housekeeper to do the dusting. And the dust that falls on it every day remains there. Everything that's come down to us from the past has been conserved by dust. Right here, look at these piles, in a few weeks a thick layer of dust has formed. On rue La Boétie, in some of my rooms—do you remember?—my things were already beginning to disappear, buried in dust. You know what? I always forbade everyone to clean my studios, dust them, not only for fear they would disturb my things, but especially because I always counted on the protection of dust. It's my ally. I always let it settle where it likes. It's like a layer of protection. When there's dust missing here or there, it's because someone has touched my things. I see immediately someone has been there. And it's because I live constantly with dust, in dust, that I prefer to wear gray suits, the only color on which it leaves no trace.

Brassaï: It takes a thousand years of dust to make a one-meter layer. The Roman Empire is buried two or three meters underground. In Rome, Paris, and Arles, the empire is in our cellars. Prehistoric layers are even thicker. We know something about primitive man—you're right—only because of the "protection" of dust.