{{Short description|1999–2001 art project}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox artwork | title = TAXY | italic title = no | image_file = Cab Exterior - 'TAXY' Bob & Roberta Smith.jpg | caption = Cab Gallery with first exterior, ''TAXY'' | painting_alignment = | image_size = 300px | artist = Bob and Roberta Smith | year = {{start date|1999}} | material = Red and yellow vinyl | subject = | city = London, England }} '''Cab Gallery''' was an art project from 1999 to 2001 curated by London art dealer Paul Stolper of Paul Stolper Gallery and art collector and London taxi driver Jason Brown. The concept was for art to be exhibited on the outside and inside of a working London taxi rather than a traditional gallery space. As stated by Brown, "It was important to me that when working, the artwork was incidental to the journey of the passenger. I hoped they would notice but it was part of their environment and unexpected. It was also interesting to me to learn which artworks they reacted to. But it had to be a natural discovery."
Artists were provided the views and dimensions of the available spaces such as the bottom of fold-up seats (or "tip-up seats"), the exterior of the cab, and limited inside options for free-standing work. Because the cab was also a working London taxi, after each artwork was selected by the curators, approval from the Cab Advertising Committee of the Public Carriage Office was also required. Artwork placed on the exterior of the cab was printed in vinyl the same as per usual advertising procedures. Special receipts were designed, listing participating artists and contact details. In addition to serving as gallery space during working cab hours, Cab Gallery would park outside galleries on their opening nights enabling the artists to exhibit more ambitious and experimental installation and sound pieces.
Throughout the project Brown honored his commitment to the project's concept of never bringing attention to the art while operating as a working cab but rather allowing the passengers to discover it for themselves. When the cab was serving as a stationary exhibition space at art galleries and events, however, Brown would often act as de facto docent for the collection.
==History== In 1999, Brown approached Stolper with the idea of exhibiting art in the spaces reserved for advertising in his traditional London Black Taxi, and Cab Gallery was launched in Hoxton Square on 24 September 1999.
The first exterior was a text piece by Bob and Roberta Smith, ''Taxy'' in red and yellow vinyl. On the fold-up seats were two text pieces by Peter Liversidge, who became a regular contributor to the project and whose collected proposals were later published in book form.<ref>{{cite book|isbn= 978-1870540322|last1 = Liversidge|first1 = Peter|title = Proposals for Paul E. Stolper and Jason Brown: For: Cab Gallery, Reg: S310 DGJ, Model: Tx : 1|year = 1999}}</ref> Also on display at the launch were ''All the animals'', an embroidered cushion by Abigail Cohen, ''from Swiss Cottage to Soho and back,'' a book of drawings by Susie Hamilton, and ''Cab Gallery Greeting'', a sound piece by Jessica Voorsanger. Absinthe was served out of the rear boot of the taxi.
The success of the launch led to other artists becoming involved and invitations by galleries and art event organizers to participate in their openings. On these occasions, the Cab was parked outside the entrance and artists had the opportunity to create more ambitious artworks as installations and sound pieces.
In mid-2000, the Bob and Roberta Smith exterior artwork was replaced with ''Sunny'' by Alex Katz, the American figurative painter. The popularity of the project spread through wide media coverage and Cab Gallery participated in its first show outside London at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. This was soon followed by From Space Gallery in Manchester and in 2001 the Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth. In 2001 the final exterior of the cab became ''Out from Under'' by important American conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner. The project expanded to include a website featuring a project by Layla Curtis which traced the routes made by Brown in his cab over a specific week.
The project came to feature regular new pieces by Peter Liversidge, the "house artist," as well as new artists and artwork to keep the project fresh. By the end of 2001 after media coverage as wide ranging as the magazines Top Gear, The Art News and Art in America and daily papers from Finland to Australia it was felt that the project should end at its height.
<gallery mode=packed> File:Exterior (detail) - Bob & Roberta Smith.jpg|''TAXY'' (detail) by Bob and Roberta Smith File:Cab Exterior - 'Sunny' Alex Katz.jpg|''Sunny'' by Alex Katz File:Cushions 'Home' Rachel Beckett and 'Mind The Gap' Peter Liversidge.jpg|''Home'' (cushions) by Rachel Beckett and ''Mind The Gap'' (mat) by Peter Liversidge File:'Mutilates' Susie Hamilton.jpg|''Mutilates'' by Susie Hamilton File:'Drive-By Random Inner-City Material Colour Space Phenomenon' Donald Smith.jpg|''Drive-By Random Inner-City Material Colour Space Phenomenon'' by Donald Smith File:'Stone Cold Sober' Fiona Banner and 'Sid Vicious' Peter Harris.jpg|''Stone Cold Sober'' by Fiona Banner and ''Sid Vicious'' by Peter Harris </gallery>
==Retrospective== thumb|250px|left|Retrospective with cab exterior ''Out from Under'' by Lawrence Weiner The curators arranged for a retrospective exhibition immediately upon discontinuing the project, held as part of the opening of the Essor Gallery, which occupied the main gallery as well as a project space nearby. The Cab Gallery Retrospective ran from 15–22 January 2002 and included the "Cab Gallery" itself, which was parked up inside. All previous artworks were on show along with films and sound pieces. {{clear left}}
==After Cab Gallery== thumb|right|250px|Stephen Farthing, RA prepares Chelsea Cab for ''Late at Tate'' Paul Stolper continues as a leading London gallery owner and publisher.
Jason Brown collaborated with Chelsea space at Chelsea College of Art & Design to use the same taxi, renamed the Chelsea Cab, to exhibit new exterior artwork on the cab by Bruce McLean, Stephen Farthing RA and David Shrigley. In 2012 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee and continues to curate art shows including exchanges between London and Nashville. In 2012 Brown donated the entire Cab Gallery archive including artwork, correspondence and ephemera to the Special Collections at the Library at the Chelsea College of Art & Design.<ref>For a description of the materials available, see http://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/library-services/collections-and-archives/chelsea/#CAB_Gallery_Archive. Retrieved 1 October 2013.</ref> {{clear right}}
==Exhibiting Artists== {{colbegin|colwidth=30em}} *APE (Adrian Corker and Paul Conboy) *Fiona Banner *Rachel Beckett *"Bono & Sting" (David Mackintosh and Graham Parker) *Brian Dawn Chalkley *Christo & Jeanne-Claude *Thomas A. Clark and Laurie Clark *Abigail Cohen *Nick Crowe *Layla Curtis *Die Kunst (Martin Vincent, David Mackintosh and Richard Hylton) *Rose Finn-Kelcey *Susie Hamilton *Peter Harris *Alex Katz *Tanya Ling *Peter Liversidge *Jess Mallock *Mike Marshal *Jim Medway *Rob Menzer *Claudia Reyes *Ray Richardson *Si Sapsford *Bob and Roberta Smith *Donald Smith *Jon Smith *Sarah Staton *Jemima Stehli *Martin Vincent *Jessica Voorsanger *Lawrence Weiner *Simon Wood {{colend}}
==References== *{{cite journal|title=Cab Gallery|journal=Time Out|date=Sep 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=Cab Gallery|journal=The Express|date=17 Sep 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=Hoax|journal=Evening Standard|date=24 Sep 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=Cab Gallery|journal=The Express|date=24 Sep 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=Taxing Work|journal=The Guardian (Space Magazine)|date=30 Sep 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=Cab Gallery|journal=The Times (Metro Magazine)|date=2 Oct 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=Moving Experience|journal=Time Out|date=6 Oct 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=Cab Gallery|journal=Metro Magazine|date=7 Oct 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=In The Back Of My Cab|journal=Galleries Magazine|date=Nov 1999}} *{{cite journal|author=Louisa Buck|title=London Calling: Hail your Art|journal=The Art Newspaper|date=Nov 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=Deals on Wheels|journal=The Observer|date=21 Nov 1999}} *{{cite journal|author=Guy Somerset|title=Cab Gallery|journal=Metro Magazine|date=30 Nov 1999}} *{{cite journal|title=The Thursday Review|journal=The Independent Newspaper|date=20 Jan 2000}} *{{cite journal|journal=Top Gear Magazine|date=Feb 2000}} *{{cite journal|author=Mike Dawson|title=Keep The Meter Running|journal=Flux|date=February–March 2000}} *{{cite journal|journal=DPICT Magazine|date=April–May 2000}} *{{cite journal|title=Scene Down Under|journal=The Manly Newspaper (Australia)|date=15 Sep 2000}} *{{cite journal|title=Present & Display (Hi-Jacked)|journal=Flux|date=Oct–Nov 2000}} *{{cite journal|title=Art On The Move|journal=MONDO Magazine (First Issue)|date=Nov 2000}} *{{cite journal|title=Hailing a new kind of gallery|journal=Evening Standard Newspaper|date=7 Nov 2000}} *{{cite journal|journal=Talous Sanomat Newspaper (Finland)|date=23 Nov 2000}} *{{cite journal|title=i had that brian eno in the back of my cab|journal=I-D Magazine (The Gallery Issue)|date=Apr 2001}} *{{cite journal|title=10 Best Websites of the Week|journal=The Independent, Information Magazine|date=19 May 2001}} *{{cite journal|title=Touring London: Cabbie's Mobile Gallery|journal=Jewish Chronicle|date=24 Aug 2001}} *{{cite journal|title=Rolling with it|journal=ARTnews|date=Sep 2001}} *{{cite journal|title=Links worth a visit|journal=The Guardian, Editor Supplement|date=22 Sep 2001}} *{{cite journal|title=The Top Ten: London's Hot New Galleries|journal=Art Review Magazine|date=Oct 2001}} *{{cite journal|journal=Time Out|date=9 Jan 2002}} *{{cite journal|title=Cab Gallery Retrospective|journal=Evening Standard Newspaper|date=14 Jan 2002}} *{{cite journal|title=Hailing Artwork On The Move|journal=Metro Magazine|date=15 Jan 2002}} *{{cite journal|title=Cab Gallery - Retrospective 1999-2001|journal=Flux|date=Dec 2001 – Jan 2002}} *{{cite journal|title=Artnotes|journal=Art Monthly|date=Dec 2001 – Jan 2002}} *{{cite journal|author=Carol Kino|title=Life after YBA-mania|journal=Art in America Magazine|date=Oct 2002}} *{{cite AV media |people=Rory Logsdail (director) |title=Cab Gallery 2|publisher=Firefly Pictures}} *{{Cite AV media |people=Aaron Paul (director)|title=Film & Art/Eye Contact |number=6}} *{{Cite episode |title=Cab Gallery|series=Focus Art News|network=Artsworld Channel for Sky Digital|date=May 2001|number=108}}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *http://www.cabgallery.com/ *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120510103230/http://www.chelseaspace.org/archive/chelseacab.html Article title]}} *http://www.paulstolper.com/ *http://www.laylacurtis.com/work/project/31
Category:Conceptual art Category:Installation art Category:Contemporary art exhibitions Category:Young British Artists Category:Art exhibitions in London Category:1999 in art Category:2000 in art Category:2001 in art Category:1999 in London Category:2000 in London Category:2001 in London