萝莉社

Anthony Corraro鈥檚 work thrives on impermanence, using hand-dyed floor dust to print intricate designs through a silkscreen 鈥� all with the purpose of being swept away. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Anthony is graduating with his MFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Printmaking from 萝莉社 University鈥檚 School of Art, Design and Creative Industries.

What materials and processes do you use to create your work?

My work is created by pushing dust through a screen, resulting in these transient screen prints. The dust comes from sweeping Henrion or my studio, anywhere around really. I collect the dust in buckets, put it through several filter processes, and dye it cyan, magenta, yellow and black. I use screen printing ink to mix into the dust, which turns into a paste. I鈥檒l then smooth out that paste and break it up with a ball mill. The ball mill is essentially a tumbler with rocks in it that help pulverize the dust so I can get it fine enough to fit through the screen. Finding the right screen size and finding the right amount of pulverization was a challenge, but I got there in the end.

What inspires your work?

These prints specifically were inspired by the sand mandalas of Tibetan Buddhism, which are done by hand by a team of monks over an extended period of time that they sweep away once they鈥檙e finished. A lot of my work has initially been inspired by Buddhism, but really anything involving unattachment, presence, and the flow of time 鈥� the transient nature of things. I always wanted to make ephemeral work that speaks to that.

The dust used for your prints comes from sweeping areas around you, and the prints are specifically created to be swept away. How does the act of cleaning tie into the work that you make?

I鈥檝e used a lot of cleaning supplies in previous work; dustpans, mops, brooms, etc. That鈥檚 how I came across this whole idea of cleaning as a form of meditation. Cleaning involves these quick repetitive actions that we do consistently over a long period of time 鈥� much like one would use going to church, saying a prayer, saying a mantra. For me it gives me a lot of peace, how cleaning itself speaks to our desire to establish order in a world that is so against it. The impulse to dust something that will inevitably become dusty again, it鈥檚 this absurd practice where there鈥檚 no end goal in mind. It鈥檚 very temporary, but it's part of life and the flow of things. Everything is temporary.

Cleaning is also associated with meditation because of the way that clutter in our house can contribute to the clutter in our minds. I see these designs as that mental clutter, even though I spend a lot of time making them aesthetically pleasing. They look nice in the way that there鈥檚 a visually appealing symmetrical design, there鈥檚 a nice color palette, etc. But really that鈥檚 all they are, is visual clutter. I think it鈥檚 ok to appreciate them in the moment but at some point, you鈥檒l have to let it go 鈥� and it鈥檚 freeing to do so. There鈥檚 something so cathartic about letting it go.

Anthony will be exhibiting his terminal project, 鈥�To Dust,鈥� in the Clayton Staples Gallery from Monday, March 18th to Friday, March 22nd鈥攚ith an opening reception on Monday, March 18th from 5-8 p.m. in the McKnight Art Center.