David Ireland
January 14–March 26, 2016
Opening reception: January 22, 6-8 pm

Organized in conjunction with the public reopening of the David Ireland House, this exhibition presents seminal and rarely seen works by the late artist. The show’s centerpiece is a reenactment of Ireland’s original site-specific work Smithsonian Falls, Descending a Staircase for P.K., a cascade of concrete that Ireland poured down the gallery’s staircase faor his Adaline Kent Award exhibition at SFAI in 1987. Also included in the show are his tour-de-force Angel-Go-Round (1996) and other rarely seen works that offer diverse vantages on his wide-ranging restless practice.

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David Ireland (MFA, 1974) is recognized internationally for a diverse and prolific body of work concerned with the beauty inherent in everyday things and the making of art as a part of daily life. His home at 500 Capp Street served as his primary source for material and inspiration, and is widely considered his greatest masterpiece. After completion of a two-year construction and preservation effort that began in 2014, visitors will be able to experience the 1886 Victorian home and its embedded artworks as Ireland intended.

Ireland (1930-2009) was born in Bellingham, Washington and moved to San Francisco in 1965. His work has been presented in more than 40 solo exhibitions, at venues including the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; The Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York. He created major public projects and private commissions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and other cities. His work is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Oakland Museum of California, and University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, among others.

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Image: David Ireland, Installation view: Smithsonian Falls, Descending a Staircase for P.K.,1987. Gallery as Place, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute, April 8–May 9, 1987 Image courtesy of San Francisco Art Institute Archives; Photographed by Simo Neri.