New York Daily Photo Analytics

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Garden in Transit

When I first started seeing cabs with these floral patterns, I assumed that it was some sort of trend that drivers and the public would soon regret with the art deteriorating over time and the subsequent shabby looks and bad repainting jobs. I was relieved to find out that the decorations are stickers and can be easily removed. Apparently taxi drivers as well as the public share confusion as to the meaning of the flowers - many (incorrect) rumors have been circulating. Garden in Transit is a privately financed $5 million art, education and creative therapy project as part of TAXI 07, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first metered taxicab in NYC. 23,000 children in schools and hospitals - in addition to many adult volunteers - have painted 80,000 flowers on 750,000 square feet of adhesive panels. The project is sponsored by the community art organization Portraits of Hope, founded by Bernard and Ed Massey. It was 7 years in the making (first conceived and proposed to the city in 2000) and approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission in 2006 - the Mayor's press release and formal announcement was made July 18, 2006. Garden of Transit workers approach cab drivers at night at their various haunts - diners, Kennedy Airport etc. and persuade them to participate. The decals are installed on the spot for free. The moving exhibition is for four months - September through December 31, 2007. After that, it is up to drivers/owners to remove the decals when and if they choose ...

Technical Note: The material used was MACtac IMAGin® B-Free vinyl with a patent-pending bubble-free air egress adhesive. This sophisticated material is frequently used for vehicle wraps and other surfaces with complex curves.

10 comments:

Kate said...

Love it, and wish more cities would be involved. It brightens the landscape, and, takes me back to the '60's!!

Brian Dubé said...

kate - I like it now that I know they are decals and can be removed. I was really concerned that these were painted on the cabs and would just wear badly over time.

Anonymous said...

Great idea!! Nice to see so many come together and cooperate to make this happen.....and privately funded at that!

Anonymous said...

Je trouve ces taxis très beaux ! Les fleurs restent une décoration que l'on peut enlever. Le principal est que le taxi reste en majorité jaune !!

indieperfumes said...

I like the idea of cabs participating in a vernacular art project. Nice photo, especially the pose of the cabdriver by his taxi...

lv2scpbk said...

He would be able to find his cab faster with those flowers.

Anonymous said...

I love those flower Taxis.

I have some pictures of them on my photoblog too:

http://www.jezblog.com/archives/07/10/24/706.php


http://www.jezblog.com/archives/07/11/05/716.php


http://www.jezblog.com/archives/07/11/05/716.php


and others too they are fantastic colorful editions to the yellow cab fleet that I already loved to photograph

Cheers Jez XX

Dsole said...

coooooooool!!

Anonymous said...

I've been wondering what those flowers meant! Glad to hear that it's for a great cause!

Anonymous said...

I always thought that those flower design were painted on.