The Art of David Ireland: The Way Things Are Who is DI? Oakland Museum of California
Exhibition

500 Capp Street, San Francisco, 1980. Photograph copyright © M. Lee Fatherree.


Life as Art

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.

By reclaiming old brooms and discarded objects that filled the house, he paid respect to the ordinary and elevated the everyday.


More Exhibition Highlights:
<Process of Making Art <Artless Art Life as Art Curiosity as Sculpture>
Sculpture of a Different Sort> Keeping an Empty Mind> Dumbballs> Credits