Joe's Night!

Where To: Artists Implore a Cab Curated by The Lower Back Tattoo Collective Featuring: Crockett Bodelson, Elias Crouch, Tara Lisa Foley, Matt Furie, Beth Gardner, Andrew Junge, Eric Landmark & Liz Walsh, Joe Roberts, Mariah Robertson, Heather Renee Russ, Niki Ulehla, Sophia Wang, Brent Weinbach, and Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough. July 27 – August 25, 2007 Opening Reception: Friday, July 27 from 6-9 PM Stand-up Comedy Performance by Brent Weinbach at 8 PM Gallery Hours: Wednesdays—Saturdays, 1-6 PM The taxicab is like no other location in modern urban society; it is both public transportation and private space. From the passenger seat, fifteen artists navigate their way through the city and this awkward social space. Each artist in this show has ridden at least one evening shift in a San Francisco taxi during a typical ten to twelve-hour shift, ending at 4:30 AM. Where To: Artists Implore A Cab represents that timeframe. Neither transient fare nor cab driver, the artist acts as a separate observer, a uniquely positioned fifth wheel in it for the ride. Each artist’s reaction is unpredictable and particular, much like a night in the urban cab. One moment can bring solitude and reflection on the passing cityscape, the next can bring a posse of coked-up partiers and Saint Patrick’s Day pukers, seconds from either erupting or passing out. The artists respond to their shifts with a diverse spectrum of work, including genres as broad as painting, puppetry, installation, and stand-up comedy. Within a nightly taxicab shift, fares of all social strata and walks of life step in and travel from one place to the next: businesspeople, drag queens, Marina-ites, hipsters, tourists, bartenders, addicts, and others. A cross section of racial, sexual, and class identities collide. The results are unscripted: sometimes they challenge preconceived notions and sometimes they reconfirm them. The taxicab, in this show, works not only as a mobile social laboratory, but also a vehicle of happenstance. Chance and luck influence the cab’s route, the cab driver’s evening income, and the outcome of this exhibition.