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