‘Howl’ by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg is a major, often controversial and important poem, originally published in 1956, it is uncanny how it seems now to be to describing our post 911 world of SARS, terrorism, war and globalisation…..

Stan Downing says:
”I was a teenager in the sixties and grew up with the Beats. I read Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Corso and, of course, Ginsberg whom I have seen perform. For personal reasons I identify strongly with the opening line ‘I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical naked …..’

This installation is my homage to Ginsberg and to my generation."

‘Howl’ was dedicated to Ginsberg’s friend, Carl Solomon, who he first met during his stay in Rockland Mental Hospital. Stan transcribed the stanzas from the third section of ‘Howl’ onto a series of postcards which were sent to Carl Solomon c/o Taxi Gallery, he also included 7 postcards of his own wry short poems.

The installation included a rare opportunity to hear a recording of Ginsberg performing 'Howl'.

comments book extract:

a densely constructed happening - surely Ginsberg would be proud?

intense observation amplified by the confines of the cab!

thought provoking interpretation

we're off to denver never been there before especially with so much alcohol in tow ome of us are going to mexico others are just here for the ride

note:

The opening for Drunken Taxicabs Of Absolute Reality included a performance of improvised music by SCUM (Society For Cutting Up Music)

observation:

I was struck by Stan's approach to making work for Taxi Gallery which seemed to me to be highly informed by his experience as a drama teacher and theatre director - he effectively "staged" Howl, and for many people (myself included) this was their first encounter with the poem. It was great to hear Ginsberg reading and unnerving to come across a poem written over 50 years ago that seems to be describing the world we are living in right now - prophetic? timeless?

artist's reflection:

This installation now seems to me to be the culmination of the work I have been doing in art over the past four and a half years. In that time I have experimented both with form and content, having first found a broadly conceptual approch to art extremely liberating. Some of the work I have produced now seems to me to be merely "clever-clever" without much emotional content or human understanding behind it. This installation, on the other hand, in addressing issues like mental illness and human waste, had both emotional content and personal significance. I hope to build on this achievement in future work, possibly at the Taxi Gallery which I found to be an excellent venue, efficiently and helpfully run and not at all stuffy. The preview was a particularly good evening and the turn-out there alone made the whole project worthwhile.