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Broom Collection
with Boom, 1978/88. Brooms,
wire, copper, concrete, and C-clamp. 52 x 31 x 82 inches. Courtesy
of the artist; Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco; Christopher
Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, California; and Jack Shainman Gallery,
New York. Photograph by M. Lee Fatherree.
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Life as Art
I have this notion that art occurs in the process
of life itself, and you don’t have to go outside of the context
of your own life. It’s all there, and you just tap into it.
You open up to it. You have to make yourself available to possibilities.
—David Ireland
Ireland’s art is based on the belief that ordinary life, and
all that is part of it, is as interesting and important as art. This
philosophy is clearly expressed in one of his most well-known artworks:
his Victorian home at 500 Capp Street in San Francisco.
When Ireland moved into the house in 1975, decades of history confronted
him—layers of wallpaper and paint, old carpeting, grime, and
stains. In the ensuing months, the process of cleaning and working
on the house became part of Ireland’s art. He equated his moves
of stripping wallpaper and sanding floors with those of any painter
or sculptor: making choices, re-forming materials, intuiting the
next step to take.
For Ireland, “art” is a state of mind. He suggests that
any object, any situation, can be art, if so
experienced.
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