The iron hangs from the ceiling via utility cord attached to a spring. It is an oversized iron and has a butt. It hovers over a very thin ironing board, which is concave. The legs of the ironing board bow out and are attached to big construction orange feet.
When I lived in an apartment in Chicago, I asked the landlord if I could store some things temporarily in the landing between the apartment next door and my apartment. I was waiting to move everything into new studio space. I had some rough storage space for the “stuff” you collect and can’t part with in a studio, but between the apartment doors I stored finished work, including Iron.
One day I came back from work and it was all gone! It was an amazing physical sensation of panic! I ran down to the owner’s door and he said he threw it all away. What was it all anyway!? We had a huge shouting match. Then I ran out to the dumpster. I pulled out the orange feet – wrapped in bubble wrap very carefully. I pulled out the iron, the ironing board, etc. As far as I could tell, it was all there. I started running it up to my third floor apartment. I was livid with rage! Emotions ran head to toe like electricity. Everything was packed so carefully that it was obviously wanted material.
Between trips someone swiped the box that the iron was in. I asked around and a “blue van” had stopped by, so I jumped in my car and searched for a blue van for an hour or so to no avail. My cast aluminum piece – gone! I noticed there were other things missing. I asked the landlord about them. He had put them in his basement because he thought he might have a use for them.
It was an amazing experience to see objects you have slaved over heaped in a dumpster. I did pay to have the iron recast. I believe the one pictured here is the first iron. I moved out of that apartment as soon as the lease was up. The landlord had a heart attack shortly after my departure.
When I made Iron I was thinking about things that we humans spend a lot of time on that are really not very meaningful. Well, they are meaningful in some way to the person performing the process, but in the world what is the point of doing this thing you love? It’s not just artwork that fascinates me: Cheerleading, dog shows, crossword puzzles, many many things we do. I have great respect for devotion ala the movie Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control.
There are other aspects of the piece. For one, it takes muscles to meticulously remove wrinkles using this particular iron day after day. The pressure of the spring requires determination; gravity is not assisting as per usual with this chore. Also, tool itself, the iron, is a body. It is pulled and pushed often. It is heavy and is the intermediary between the fixer and that which needs to be fixed.
| Dimensions: | floor to ceiling x 30″ x 5′” |
| Materials: | spring, top from iron, cast aluminum iron base, board top is buckeye wood, legs from ironing board, wood feet on ironing board |
| Completed: | 1991 |
| Last Shown : | 1991 “Surprise Visit”, one person show Eureka College, Eureka, IL |
