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In the fall of 2001 I began painting bicycle symbols around the streets of Montreal, mimicking those that are used to designate the city’s bike paths. Being a cyclist myself and having spent a lifetime sharing the road with people who by virtue of their   steel, glass and rubber carapace had the power to do me seriously bodily harm (and almost did on several occasions) I felt that it was time the cyclist be given his fair share of the public pie.  After all, politicians have been encouraging us for years and presumably at the public’s behest to adopt alternative modes of transportation as a palliative to the numerous ills associated with congestion, smog and green house gasses.  I had been hearing this line of “encouragement” since I was young enough to comprehend “adult-speak” and I’m sure it was being spouted long before. However, I had to date, found little encouragement in breathing car exhaust, having to share the road with eighteen wheelers and the prospect of receiving the dreaded “door prize”(having a car door opened in your face) except maybe the existence of a few recreational bike paths and one’s own state of poverty.  Same for a perpetually under-funded public transportation system that, bogged down by the overall level of traffic congestion seemed to take longer and be more crowded than ever. Maybe this is the incentive for cycling that was being referred to.
Around 4am on November the 29th 2004, I was taken into custody by Montreal Police after having been caught “red handed” (or in my case “yellow handed” as I was using yellow paint that night) in the act of painting a Christmas ribbon at the intersection of Rachel and St. Denis, Montreal, Quebec. While in detention, a search warrant had been issued and much to my roommate’s dismay, my house searched and stripped of various items that would prove my culpability in connection to a number of incidences of “graffiti” that had sprung up in the past couple of years and that all bore the same “signature” (which is another word for “style” as I did not actually sign the vast majority of my pieces). The numerous stencils, photographs, documents and sketchbooks that were either confiscated as in the case of my computer’s hard drive or that I later found strewn about my apartment in a manner reminiscent of a CIA search, constituted what is known in legal circles as an “orgy of evidence”. In retrospect, I ask myself how I could have been so careless.

Lucky for me that question doesn’t have the poignancy that it would have had if the outcome of The City of Montreal vs. Roadsworth had been less favourable. If instead of receiving the nominal fine of $250 and 40 hours of community service of my choosing -what most would consider a “slap on the wrist”- I had been prosecuted with the full weight of the law that some speculated could mean fines of up to $250,000, jail time and a criminal record; potentially life ruining consequences.   On the contrary, news of my arrest from both alternative and mainstream media (for e.g. Chris Hand of Zeke’s Gallery launched the first and perhaps most significant “Save Roadsworth” campaign on his blog) garnered a certain amount of public support and what some might aptly describe as “free publicity”.  If it weren’t for the knowledge of the countless hours spent conceiving designs, drawing and cutting stencils, frequenting hardware stores at significant personal expense and the physical demands involved in staying up all night and surreptitiously painting asphalt, I would have no reservations in saying the publicity I received was “free.”
While I had long entertained the thought of doing some form of street art as a response to what I believed was an ill-conceived use of public space on one hand and the discovery of the inspiring work of land artist Andy Goldworthy on another it was 9/11, an event that had the strangely liberating effect of making me feel I had nothing to lose, that provided the catalyst.  For a long time I had been grumbling about the ill effects of a society dependant on oil and bent on over-consumption in general and our seeming unwillingness and/or inability to confront these issues despite our better intentions. The more the litany of complaints grew over an overstrained health-care system, obese children, bronchial disease, traffic congestion, pollution, global warming, war etc…and the human misery these cause, the bigger and more fuel guzzling cars there were, the longer the lines of traffic grew and the hotter and smoggier the summer seemed to get. At best this apparent disconnect between our behavior and its consequences was symptomatic of a society grown complacent and unable to overcome its own inertia. At worst it was evidence of corporate, military and government collusion, abetted by a capitalist system where the bottom line is all that matters.  Whatever the reasons, I came to the depressing conclusion that at least as far as Canadians were concerned, nothing short of a cataclysm, be it in the form of a hurricane or more likely the cancellation of the outdoor hockey season due to insufficient ice, would have the power to bring about a change in consciousness.
What began as a form of activism rooted in a desire for more bike paths and justified by the rationale outlined above eventually grew into an art project that, to a certain extent, continues today.  Fuelled by a sense of righteous indignation I also felt empowered by the expressive and creative outlet that street art afforded me. Instead of feeling like a helpless passenger on a train headed for disaster I felt that I had created a voice for myself amid the noise of the city.  This may smack of self-righteousness to some and I am aware of how most people bristle (and rightfully so) when confronted with “preachiness.”  This is one of the reasons I resorted to a form of iconography that I feel is closer in spirit to satire than it is to protest.  Not only was I lacking the confidence to issue slogan-like generalizations about issues I did not fully comprehend, I was also aware of a personal degree of complicity.  An open-ended quality of expression would lend itself better to interpretation and dialogue than the “FUCK BUSH” or “OIL=WAR” kind of language that is typical of a protester’s placard and that I felt people had become desensitized to.  Furthermore, it’s obvious to anyone who’s followed events in the Middle East for instance that the hurling of stones only hardens those at whom the stones are being hurled…and invites the hurling of bigger stones in return.
As my personal artistic process evolved, political concerns were eclipsed by artistic ones and I often felt more inspired by the process than I did by the message I was trying to convey. Marshall Mcluhan’s famous quote “the medium is the message” is significant in this regard. The ubiquitousness of the asphalt road and the utilitarian sterility of the “language” of road markings provided fertile ground for a form of subversion that I found irresistible. I was provoked by a desire to jolt the driver from his impassive and linear gaze and give the more slow-moving pedestrian pause for reflection.  The humourlessness of the language of the road not to mention what I consider an absurd reverence for the road and “car culture” in general made for an easy form of satire. In the spirit of Marcel Duchamps, all I had to do was paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa so to speak, to introduce a glitch in the matrix. A matrix made up in part by a worldwide network of roads and an ever-growing fleet of humans encased in steel carapaces, hurrying about like molecules in the body of an insatiable machine.
While it may seem that the dedication with which I’ve attacked asphalt since 2001 suggests an anti-car obsession, I am not so intent on car-bashing as in the culture that has grown around the automobile, one of the defining symbols of our age. Its invention has given rise to the phenomenon of sprawling suburbs, super highways and the demographic of the daily commuter.  It epitomizes the capitalist ideal with its promise of independence, speed and mobility; an interface through which one can experience the environment in the comfort of a climate-controlled, sound-controlled and tinted glass interior. In one way or another, it has become synonymous with “freedom” (this puts a whole new perspective on what is really meant by “fighting for freedom” in Iraq for e.g.) and to curtail its use in any way is seen by many as almost a form of repression.  To wrest the steering wheel away from the average car owner would be like asking Charleton Heston to give up his gun: “Out of my cold dead hand”. The comparison is a relevant one as it highlights an underlying paradox of capitalism. As in the case of guns, the more people that drive a car the less freedom each individual car-owner actually enjoys.
Despite the freedom, mobility and increased human contact that car commercials so tantalizingly suggest, the underlying reality is less alluring. While it is possible that some car owners spend their time cruising the rainforest, climbing mountains or speeding through the desert the vast majority are too busy commuting, sitting in traffic and worrying about gas prices and insurance rates. In fact you practically need four-wheel drive to experience nature nowadays as it recedes further and further with the inexorable advance of suburbia and the highways that connect to it.  The conditions required to accommodate a more mobile and vehicular population creates a vicious circle that shields people from their environment while simultaneously rendering it more hostile thus confirming their need to further isolate themselves.  Given the possibility of moving between work, the gym and home again without ever setting foot outside, it’s not surprising that many people are out of touch with their surroundings. Under such conditions, space is merely transitional, the passing of scenery between point A and point B and it is therefore treated as such.  As for the potential for increased human contact, one need only look at the rows of mostly one person per car traffic and the distances that separate many “modern” families to see that the automobile has isolated as much as it has brought people together.
Despite an obvious antagonism towards “car culture” I am aware that advocating a complete renunciation of the automobile would not only be unrealistic but undesirable given the lack of viable, alternative forms of transportation that exist for much of the population, mainly those living outside of cities.  My quarrel is not so much with the car itself as it is with the attitude that it engenders.  It is a metaphor for a culture bent on speed, convenience, consumption and hyper-individualism. Where having a job and owning a car are the determining characteristics of the productive member of society whose economy is based on the ability of its citizens to consume. The fact of being able to cover large distances at a rapid pace with the flex of one’s foot while surrounded by steel and in the comfort of one’s own personalized environment has created a disembodied culture with a false sense of invisibility, self-sufficiency and a general sense of impatience.  This is a dangerous psychological precedent in a world where community and sustainability is needed more than ever.  If there is anywhere that mitigating our dependence on the automobile is not only feasible but increasingly and urgently needed, it is in cities where more than two thirds (and growing) of the world’s population now lives.

After being arrested the nagging question on my mind “how could I have been so careless?” was soon replaced by the more basic “why did you do this?”, the primary question asked by journalists and anyone else for whom my identity had been a secret. While I always had an answer at the ready and a script that was fine tuned with every interview, to this day I wonder about my motivations. My first attempts at street art manifest a cynicism bred by a sleazy corporate attitude that seemed to permeate everything, especially public space where corporate expression (i.e. advertising) seemed to not just represent the status quo but the only legitimate form of expression.   I was frustrated by what seemed like a society that was subservient to this attitude (“car culture” was the epitome of this) whether through denial, fear, laziness, cynicism or ignorance.  This was seemingly fostered by an impotent government and an aggressive corporate structure that was not just insensitive but antagonistic towards social and environmental concerns. This was perhaps an overly simplistic assessment of reality but not one that was wholly unjustified.
The ability that street art gave me to respond, to express these perceptions in some way not only gave me a sense of empowerment but also helped relieve a certain amount of frustration that I attribute as much to personal factors as I do to societal ones.  But there were other aspects that motivated me. There was the creative, artistic pleasure I derived from it. A desire to inject a sense of playfulness into my own life and surroundings not to mention the feeling of adventure and the undeniable rush associated with breaking the law. There was the egotistical thrill of “getting up” and the vicarious pleasure associated with the thought of an anonymous spectator discovering something I had left on the street.  More importantly, it provided a direct means of expression unmediated by the gallery, museum or the advertising agency for example and the inevitable “hoop jumping” required to gain access to these.
I refer to these thoughts and situations in the past tense in order to convey the atmosphere and headspace in which I justified breaking the law when I first started doing art on the street. Inherent to these laws is the suggestion that any form of public expression not intended to sell something is suspect and therefore imbued with a hidden agenda. I’ve sometimes mused that had I attached a dollar value to my work I wouldn’t have been arrested. “Nothing unusual going on here”. Despite our trumpeting the notion of “free expression” one wonders what this really means in the context of public space.  Although we thankfully don’t live in a totalitarian society (some would argue this point) there is nevertheless an underlying assumption that to have a voice in the public realm requires money, property or political influence.  Some would say that relinquishing barriers to public expression is to invite anarchy but I would argue that a certain form of anarchy already exists: corporate anarchy. Not that I think that marketing or advertising is wrong. The exchange of goods and services is obviously an essential facet of the human experience but not the only one and I feel the common space should reflect a greater diversity of expression.
To express oneself outside of the “accepted” context however is to risk a certain amount of criticism. After all, who am I to impose my opinions on others? I don’t pretend to have answers for anything and the complexity of the world is beyond the scope of my understanding but I still believe that I have the right to ask “Who are you to push hamburgers on me?” or “Who are you to pollute my air?” or “Who are you to tell me to go to war?” etc…Despite my cynicism, I feel that whether motivated through a sense of self-preservation or that of future generations, there is nevertheless a growing recognition that an industrial-age mentality is no longer adequate to the challenges that humanity is faced with. Though maybe not purely altruistic, there is an awareness that the interest of others could also be in one’s own interest.  Big words for a vandal.

One of the questions that always comes up in discussions of street art is that of vandalism. How do you justify defacing public property? What about private property? Do you think there will ever be a point when the value of art is seen as equal to property rights?

I’ve always viewed street art as a form of civil disobedience so the term “vandalism” is open to interpretation in the same way that protesting can be construed as “disturbing the peace.” Given the systemic vandalism and violence that’s legally perpetrated on a daily basis by states, corporations and individuals against the environment, the economy, humans, animals and the well being of the world and its citizens in general, the vandalism practiced by street artists and graffiti artists is quaint by comparison.  When I first started doing street art I had a sense that our lifestyles in general represented a form of violence against nature and therefore against our own best interests. The “business as usual” attitude that characterized the media, corporations, the government and the public in general seemed highly irresponsible and dysfunctional given the increasingly alarming indications of environmental deterioration in particular faced by the planet. A tendency to segregate issues such as the environment, the economy, human health and social well-being in general into distinct categories as opposed to viewing them as inter-dependent aspects of a whole suggested a myopic view. The “vandalism” that I and many graffiti artists and street artists have practiced has to be considered in the context of the industrial vandalism that’s a part of our everyday lives.  I also chose to practice street art to question the hypocrisy implicit in the notion that public space is democratic when in fact, it caters more to corporations than it does to everyday citizens. This is evident by the prevalence and acceptance of corporate advertising on one hand and an intolerance for individual expression on the other whether it be in the form of graffiti or a poster affixed to a telephone pole advertising a local band, piano lessons or a lost cat. Acting in public space was a way of not simply pointing the finger sanctimoniously at corporations and goverments but of recognizing the need to take collective responsibility of our reality/destiny.

On the sake token, street art seems to lose some of its impact when it is commissioned or done in an otherwise legal way. How much meaning does street art derive from the fact that it’s illegal? Why did you work illegally when, in theory, you could have gone through legal channels and eventually gotten permission to do what you did?

I’ve always distinguished “street art” from “commissioned” or “public art” even though both may appear in or on the street and may be otherwise indistinguishable from one another. There is a spirit and a certain spontaneity that occurs in street art which does not, in my opinion, exist in the context of commissioned work. That’s not to say that public/commissioned art has less value.  I think there are many advantages to working in a legal context and the expressive and political impact of a commissioned piece can be greater than that of a non-commissioned one. Having said that, the automatic impact that exists in street art by virtue of its illegality lends a certain conviction and weight that can’t be reproduced in a legal context. The implicit message is one of rebellion and that energy is as present in the hastily executed tag as it is in the most sophisticated and premeditated example of street art or graffiti. I think it’s also possible to be rebellious in the context of a commission but it often feels distorted and contrived. I’m not a purist though and don’t feel that street art and public/commissioned art are mutually exclusive. Working “within the system” can be as important and as valid as working outside of it despite the varying potential and quality of expression. My decision to work illegally rather than asking permission to do so wasn’t necessarily a rational one.  I just assumed that there was no chance that I’d get permission to do what I did and based on my experiences since then, I’d say my assumption was correct. Although I’ve received permission from the City to do work on the street, the process is relatively onerous and the restrictions and limitations stringent enough that the work I was doing prior to my arrest would have been impossible via official legal channels. As they say, it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission.

Do you have any idea how many interventions (for lack of a better term) you took part in before your arrest? In other words, just how many of your stencils were there between 2001 and 2004? What about since then?

I never really counted but I estimated that I laid down at least 300 hundred stencils between 2001 and 2004. After my arrest in 2004, the interventions were primarily in the context of legal commissions although I’ve continued to do street art since that time both inside and outside of Montreal albeit to a less prolific degree.

You’ve noted before that there hasn’t been much art criticism of your work. Why do you think this is?

I’m not sure why that is but I don’t spend a lot of time seeking it out so maybe there is criticism out there that I’m not aware of. I can only speculate but one reason might be the fact that street art is not really considered serious art and therefore unworthy of an art critic’s attention. Even though I’ve done a lot of public art  it resembles street art enough that I’ve always been considered a “street artist”. I’ve never really been inducted into the world of galleries and museums in which “serious” art supposedly resides and where art critics direct their focus despite the fact that I’ve participated in various gallery run exhibitions. I suspect that the kind of work I do might be considered naive and “light” by art critics… not that I necessarily take issue with that. I’m definitely not immune to criticism though and am more impressionable than I’d like to be when it comes to what others think.  Maybe it’s a blessing that I’ve been spared artistic criticism since it’s allowed me to maintain a level of confidence in what I’m doing. On the other hand, I’m prone to moments of doubt when I question the artistic merits of my work and suspect that the lack of critical attention is proof of that. At the end of the day I get enough personal pleasure from what I do and feel that others, even if it’s just kids and their mothers, do too that I don’t spend too much time worrying about it. When I started doing street art, it was if anything, a response to advertising, my immediate surroundings and my feelings about the world in general rather than an effort to be acknowledged or accepted by the art world. The people I wanted to communicate with, to initiate a dialogue with, were everyday people in the street and not just the relatively small percentage of those that frequent art galleries and museums. These and other institutions represent a system and hierarchy of critics and curators who ultimately decide what constitutes “art” and whose careers and reputations are contingent upon this definition. That’s not to say there isn’t value in this kind of expertise but it was never a concern of mine to appeal to it. The fact that street art, at least in the true sense of the term, lies outside of this system makes it hard to situate, define and justify.  In some senses it could even be viewed as a threat to that system since it bypasses the vetting process that an artist is usually subject to before gaining access to a public audience. Street art completely obliterates this process and dispenses altogether with the “middle man”.

Have you seen any evolution in the attitude of Montreal towards street art, public art interventions or the like? What about in the other cities where you’ve worked?

I think the world wide popularity of street art in recent years has created a certain openness to different forms of public art as long as it’s officially controlled. There are more and more sanctioned walls for graffiti artists and events that feature work by street artists but as far as I can tell, the intolerance for unsanctioned expression is as strong as ever. The proof of this is in the anti-graffiti policies that exist in most cities, including Montreal, which seem to be getting more and more severe despite dubious results. I think that graffiti is a popular cause of politicians because it is easy to identify and good for appearances. Everyone’s seen the photo ops featuring mayors with their sleeves rolled up, power spraying graffiti from a wall. It’s a visible way to show that work is getting done and distracts from the more serious, complicated problems that cities are faced with.

One of your original aims was to critique car culture. Montreal has done a lot to promote bicycle use and reduce car use in the past few years, especially on the Plateau. What do you think of this? Where can the city improve in this regard?

It’s true that the situation for cyclists has improved in recent years, especially in the Plateau and Montreal has become one of the most cyclist friendly cities in North America. The city seems to be moving in the right direction on that front due in large part to the fact that it’s finally acknowledging the high percentage of the population that uses cycling as a primary mode of transportation. For a long time, bike paths seemed to be designed merely for recreational use and they could usually be found in and around parks but were inadequate from a practical point of view. Conditions for cyclists are better but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. In my view, there should be bike lanes on every single street just as there are sidewalks.  This would not only diminish the number of cyclists that are killed or maimed every year (an acquaintance of mine was killed recently when he was run over by a truck while riding his bike) but it would encourage more people, who are understandably discouraged from competing with cars and trucks, to take up cycling. The more people cycling and using public transportation, the healthier people and the city would be in general both from a physical and psychological standpoint.  And it would save cash strapped cities money in the long run in both health care costs, due to improved air quality and a fitter population and by diminishing wear and tear on road surfaces. This is above and beyond the obvious advantages of limiting our use of fossil fuels whose potential for catastrophic damage is well known.  It’s a no brainer in my opinion.

What do you like about Montreal? What kept you here for so many years after moving from Toronto and graduating from university? Do you ever think about moving somewhere else?

I like the scale of Montreal and the tension that exists between the francophone and anglophone communities. Some view this as problematic but I think it can be a positive tension if people are not feeling overly threatened, abused or marginalized. This and a strong immigrant population is what I think makes Montreal dynamic and special among North American cities. I think I will always consider Montreal home but having discovered and fallen in love with many different cities over the years, I’ve often entertained the thought of living elsewhere.

Where are your favourite places to hang out? Which parts of town do you find most inspiring?

I like to hang out with my kids in various parks around where I live such as Parc Lafontaine or Parc Laurier. If I’m solo I like to ride along a bike path that runs alongside the train tracks that cross the northern width of the Plateau. It’s also fun to hang out in the train yard and along the train tracks themselves where you can enjoy some relative peace and quiet in proximity to the hustle and bustle of the city.

It would be nice to know a bit about your home life. Can you tell me about your family? I assume you met your wife after you were already working as an artist — what’s her take on your work? Can you describe a typical day in your life?

I met my wife just prior to the time I started to doing street art in 2001.  She’s always been supportive of me and even assisted me on some of my earliest forays into street art.  On a couple of occasions when we were laying down a stencil and a cop car would approach, we would start smooching as a decoy;  a way of saying “nothing to see here.” Of course it was also a great excuse for a smooch. She’s also helped a lot with logistical and administrative matters when dealing with commissions and some of the larger projects that I’ve worked on. We have two young children so our days start a lot earlier than they used to and are full of responsibilities that I couldn’t have imagined prior to parenthood. That added responsibility’s forced me to sharpen my focus though and being exposed to the youthful energy and spirit of children has, I think, rubbed off on me creatively…If only I could find the time to exercise some of that creativity.  It’s hard not to sound cliche when talking about parenthood I guess because it’s such a universal experience.

Where exactly did you grow up in Toronto? What school did you go to?

I was born in North Toronto and grew up around Young and St. Clair. I attended High School at Jarvis C.I.

What kind of materials do you use — specific kinds of paint, material used for stencils, etc.?

It depends on the project and the concept that’s being executed. Most often I’ll simply cut stencils out of cardboard that I buy at the dollar store (2 sheets for a dollar) and tape them together depending on how large an image I want to create. In the past I used a lot of masonite which is a wood composite that can be cut using a circular saw or a jig saw. This would come in handy particularly on projects where there was a lot of image repetition. I also used it a lot when doing street art since the material is heavy enough that it won’t be blown around by the wind and can even be left in the street and run over by cars without getting damaged. This gave me a lot more flexibility and allowed me to quit the scene in a hurry if a police cruiser showed up for example, without worrying that I would lose the stencil.  When I first started doing street art I used street paint (paint used for road markings, street lines etc.) out of a gallon bucket and applied it through a stencil using a brush. This proved to be quite messy until I discovered street paint in aerosol form which brought my game to a whole new level. Since that time though, I try to limit my use of spray paint. Nowadays, I mostly use house paint of one kind or another which can be applied through a stencil with the use of a roller or an electric spray gun.  More and more, I’ll execute pieces without the use of stencils or at least by creating what I call “in situ stencils” which involves drawing out an image with chalk and outlining it with masking tape or simply doing a way with the masking tape altogether. This is particularly useful when doing large pieces which don’t involve a lot of repetition.

What is your process for developing commissioned work? How long does it take you to come up with a concept for an installation? Where do you draw your inspiration, beyond the space itself?

Yes, the first thing I look at when developing a commissioned work is the space itself but a space is more than just a physical entity. It represents the confluence of several factors including the function that it serves, the people that use it, the way that it’s used and experienced, the history that it was witness to and a variety of other psychological and non-physical factors that are both distinct from and directly related to the physicality of the space itself. In this sense, my approach resembles that of an architect. I’ll then focus on one or a combination of these factors and try to come up with imagery that reflects or emphasizes them in some way. One of the best ways to highlight aspects of a space is through contrast. The Eaton Center installation in Montreal is a good example of this. The space is dominated by slick surfaces made up of glass and steel so I wanted to contrast this with something more rough and organic looking. It was an attempt to contrast the slick and sterile look of the space itself that led to the decision to use cardboard and other forms of recycled material as building material for the installation. I also like to transform a space by creating absurd situations and by introducing surreal and often over-sized imagery that’s completely out of place. Creating this kind of contrast has the unexpected effect of revealing and drawing attention to the space itself.

Regarding the Eaton Centre installation(s) – how was it to work on such a big project in a very commercial setting? Are you happy with how it turned out?

It was exciting to have the opportunity to work in such a large indoor public space since it represented such a departure from the usual spaces I was given to work with which often involved asphalt.  The fact that this space happened to be a shopping mall made the task that much more challenging since more than with other projects, I was in a position where I had to conceive of an installation that would be acceptable to the client (the Eaton Center) but that would also be true to my own feelings about the space. In other words, I was in a position that many artists who do commissions have found themselves in over the centuries. At first, it was proposed that I conceive of a design that could be transferred onto vinyl and affixed to various surfaces of the mall. Having created several large scale installations in the past, I was familiar with the amount of waste this often entails and I told myself that I would do my best to limit the amount of waste in future installations. So the thought of producing massive vinyl stickers that would be thrown in the trash once the exhibit was over seemed vaguely depressing to me at the time. This and the fact that another artist by the name of Phil Allard had created a sculpture at the Eaton Center a couple of years previously using discarded water bottles, gave me the idea of constructing the installation using the material (cardboard, plastic water bottles, coat hangers etc.) generated by the mall itself. And there was definitely no shortage of materials to work with. When I first proposed the idea, I didn’t think that the client would accept it.  By exposing the waste generated by the mall the installation could be construed as critical of the Eaton Center and consumerism in general – that was definitely part of the intention- so I didn’t think they would be open to this kind of self-criticism. Or if it was accepted, I assumed it would be watered down in some way. I was surprised to learn that they had no reservations whatsoever and were prepared to see the project through. I wasn’t sure if this was because they were in fact open to a degree of self-criticism or whether it wasn’t perceived as being critical at all. 
I’m pretty happy with how it turned out in the end even though there were aspects that I would’ve done differently or that could have been improved upon. There were also other elements conceived for the installation that were never completed due to a lack of time and budget. I’m also aware of the fact that as much as the installation influenced the space in the shopping center, the opposite was true as well. In other words the roughness and somewhat organic look and feel of the recycled materials toned down the slick, sterile look of the shopping center and subdued some of its own rawness in the process.

Also, you mentioned that you had had some run-ins with the police before your arrest. Why did you decide to press on with your work regardless?

My first run in with the police which involved being detained in hand cuffs for a few hours,  did in fact spook me enough that I went on hiatus for several months even though I wasn’t actually fined anything.  My second run in happened at least a couple of years later but strangely, it actually encouraged me to continue doing what I was doing because it seemed at the time that the police were unaware of my other activities and the extent to which I had already bombed the city. If they had, I reasoned, they wouldn’t have let me go and charged me such a small fine equivalent to that of a parking ticket. It seemed to me that they were treating this as an isolated incident. I was definitely humbled by the incident and didn’t plan to do much more in the way of street art but I had the mentality of the addict that thinks he can pull off just one more. Of course I was wrong to think that the police had treated the last incident as an isolated one.  Not long after I was arrested and it was apparent that there was in fact a file of evidence that had been growing against me for some time.

1. Please, tell me some of your personal information: age, profession, artistic carreer, where do you live?

age: 37

profession: artist

home town: Montreal, Canada

2. Why did you decided to work in streets?

I wanted to work in the streets because I wanted to have a voice, to have a say in the public dialogue, un- mediated by the usual channels of expression such as radio, television and newspaper or the other venues in which artistic expression usually appears such as art galleries or museums. I also wanted to express ideas that I felt were probably contrary to the status quo and therefore difficult if not impossible to receive official permission for. Anyway, it was my feeling that the official channels of communication (the status quo) were severely biased and undemocratic to begin with which to me justified such an unsanctioned and ultimately illegal form of expression. It was my feeling that the system as a whole was unbalanced, unfair and generally flawed and I felt further justified by what I considered to be a general disrespect for genuine justice and democracy and a general level of hypocrisy and denial within the media, the government and society at large.

3. What did “pedestrian art” means?

“Pedestrian art” was a title I gave to a piece which transformed a section of sidewalk into a running shoe but the title is relevant to all of the work I’ve done on the street.  The title in the case of the running shoe piece has a few meanings. First of all, the running shoe, being made for the foot is literally “pedestrian”. Because the piece was done on the sidewalk, the audience is also decidedly pedestrian. So on one hand “pedestrian art” means art for pedestrians, for people that walk, for people that experience the city on foot. I’ve always felt like it was the best way to experience a city since your pace is slower, your experience of the environment and the people in it is more immediate.  In a car, you’re insulated from the immediate environment by steel, glass, air conditioning and sound proofing and the pace at which you move is too fast to assimilate the surroundings. This somewhat virtual experience that’s engendered by driving a car also influences one’s relationship with and attitudes towards the  surrounding environment and the people that inhabit it. I would say pedestrians are generally more in touch with the city than those that drive. To appreciate street art for example demands that you get out of your car in most cases.

The word “pedestrian” in English can also mean lacking in vitality, imagination, distinction, etc.; commonplace; prosaic or dull. For me this is a reference to attitudes towards street art and graffiti  in general, which even though it may be popular and fashionable, is still generally considered beneath the purview of art galleries and the serious art world in general. I wanted to subvert the pejorative sense of the word “pedestrian” to in fact celebrate the “commonplace” and the  “ordinary” and ultimately the democratic implication of the pedestrian experience.

4. Which is the message implied in your art?

Different messages are implied depending on the context but overall my goal is to question the unquestionable, shed light on the “taken for granted” and break through my own and others general state of denial.

5. Please, tell me about your thematic you prefer and why? Ex. Nature, house objects, etc

Organic forms from nature are often more pleasurable and even therapeutic to observe and draw. I also like to introduce natural forms into an often times cold and mechanistic urban environment, a reminder of sorts, that nature still exists and that it might once again assert itself despite the concrete, asphalt and steel that surround us.  At the same time, I consider man made objects to have their own beauty. They are mirrors in a sense of the human psyche, revealing as much through their functionality as through their aesthetic form. I’m particularly interested in man made objects that are not quite “modern” and that appear dated in some way. A rotary dial telephone for example is more interesting to me than an iphone.

6. Paint and shadows work fine together? Which other street elements you like?

I’m particularly drawn to elements that represent repeating patterns such as sewer covers, street markings, street signs, sidewalk patterns etc. Because of this repetitive nature of the man made environment there are countless opportunities to intervene in urban spaces.

7. How far do you want to go with your art?

As far as it will take me.

8. Which is the biggest paint you did, which is the smallest?

I think the biggest painting I did was a stretch of road that I painted for the Tour de France. The smallest was probably a Banana Peel I painted on the streets of Barcelona or a seagull painted in Normandy France.

QUESTIONS FOR ROADSWORTH, CANADIAN ARTIST

1) After years in the scene, how has your role as a graffiti artist

changed over the time? Do you do it because you want to or because you

feel obligated?

Obligated is such a heavy word. I feel obligated to get out of bed in the morning even though sometimes I’d rather sleep ’till noon. But I’m always glad I did get up.

2) Why did you get involved in street art scene? What does it mean to you?

Lots of reasons. It started as a form of activism but then I started to fancy myself an artist. Street art for me is simply an alternative form of media. Alternative to the advertising and other forms of media that exist. It’s a direct means of personal expression without the hoop jumping required to gain access to more traditional forms of media. It’s a form of adventure, of creativity and of self-expression. It’s a way for anybody with the nerve and will to have a voice, to say something to an unsuspecting audience.

3) How would you describe your style and means of expression?

My style I would describe as satirical, minimalist, conceptual light and dark.

4) Why did you choose ‘Roadsworth’?

Where Wordsworth is a poet of words, Roadsworth is a poet of roads.

5) Street art is all about communication with the public. You paint on

roads instead of buildings or walls. You started doing your graffiti

as a way to protest against the lack of cycling routes in Montreal,

did the purpose of your graffiti change overtime? How popular, would

you say, are roads within other graffiti artists?

I’m about the only person I’m aware of that uses the road as canvas on a regular basis. Which is surprising since there is so much asphalt in the world. Says something about our verticality bias and/or a certain reverence for the road. Like it’s sacred or something. Untouchable. Yes I started doing street art as a form of activism and that spirit has remained over time even though I may not always be explicitly activist. For me the medium is the message so whether you’re painting a peace sign or a picture of your dog on the street, the context tells the most important part of the story. Street art is activism by virtue of how and where it’s done whether you’re consciously political or not.

6) How did you come up with the idea of these “additions” to the public space?

Some of it was inspired by the artist Andy Goldsworthy the spirit of whose work I wanted to translate somehow to an urban settting. Some of it was inspired by advertising itself both as a influence and as a reaction against it.

7) Over the years you have been loyal to your key colours; white –

purity, gray – timeless, yellow – happiness and blue – trustworthy.

Why is that so?  Do these particular colours symbolise anything for

you?

Initially I was using these colours because they happen to be the most effective on asphalt. It’s no accident that cities around the world use these colours. They really pop out unlike green or red for example. I also wanted them to blend with their environment. It’s important for me that my interventions look like they “belong” within the context. I wanted people to think that maybe the stencils were put there by the city. Using the same colours as the City accentuates that ambiguity. Eventually I kind of developed a system with these colours so I do have a certain attachment and comfort level with them. However, if I paint a canvas or a wall for example I’ll often break out a greater variety of colours.

Last 10 years have faced a boom in street art. If in the early

years the main purpose of graffiti was resistance, then currently it

might seem that many amateurs are simply decorating cities? How do you

feel about it? Would you say the purpose of graffiti has changed?

There may have been a boom in street art in the past 10 years but as far as I’m concerned there’s still room for more. If your objective is to be famous and you go around doing Banksy-like pieces than you probably missed the boat. But as far as I’m concerned there are so many opportunities to create magic in the street and despite this boom, it’s rare that I walk through a city and notice something that makes me go “What the….?” It’s there for sure but it’s still rare.

I think this kind of unsanctioned expression is really in its infancy and until it becomes something that everyone does, like driving a car, it’s still got the ability to surprise. Graffiti is not a new thing. It’s been around forever. I do agree that a lot of street art/graffiti is lacking in teethe but as long as it’s illegal then it still represents an act of resistance to me.

9) At year 2004 ago you were arrested. Your story is a good example of

the risks being artists face in public places. How has this experience

affected you painting on the roads?

It makes it harder to paint in Montreal in the manner that I did when I started but that’s really just an excuse. There are enough ways to intervene in the city without repeating yourself but I think I would have to develop a different style in order to not be recognizably”roadsworth” . Good excuse to re-invent oneself.

10) Montreal Gazette’s headline on the day you got arrested was

‘Graffiti artist free to paint – but he has to ask first’. Currently

you are doing commissioned public works for the city. How much freedom

do you have in hand when doing commissioned works for the city?

It’s definitely more constrained and less immediate in the sense that I have to go through a certain process before doing a piece. And it’s not like anything goes although I’ve been pretty lucky in terms of artistic license and rarely do I feel like I’m compromising my ideas. The biggest constraint is probably the choice of space but that can have it’s benefits and challenges as well. Definitely not the same as ‘Street art” in the pure sense of the term but on the other hand it allows for a kind of experimentation that would be much more difficult or maybe even impossible in a purely illegal context. To be able to get permission to do art on the street is in my mind an accomplishment in itself.

11) You took part of London Can Festival in 2008.

How did this show influence you?

It gave me a sense of street art or stencil art in particular as a “movement” which is not something I was very aware of prior to that. Yes I had seen a lot of stuff on-line and knew a lot of the artists that were participating but to see it and be around it live was a revelation in that sense. On the other hand it sort of de-personalized (if that’s a word) street art for me. Realizing that street art was in fact a “movement” made what I was doing feel slightly less original even though my personal approach to using stencils is different from most of the other stencil artists in attendance.

12) Your story as a graffiti artist is extraordinary, because of

public support and the noble campaign “Save Roadsworth” created by

Zeke Gallery. What do you continue doing to maintain that mutual

relationship with the public? What has publics response been regarding

new projects in Montreal?

I don’t know ’cause I haven’t done a poll lately. Not to be sarcastic but it’s a little bit hard to gauge. Doing a commission is not as sensational a story as getting arrested for 80 counts of mischief so it doesn’t spill as much ink or generate as many editorials. But when it does, I find that it’s generally supportive of what I’m doing. Not that the media is an accurate indication of public sentiment and it’s dangerous to believe what you read so I generally don’t pay too much attention. If I’m working on the street or talking to kids at a workshop for example people tend to be very supportive although if there are any detractors they’re much less likely to make their thoughts known. I basically don’t think about it too much so very hard to say.

13) Movie ‘Roadsworth, crossing the line’, released at 2009, documents

your ups and downs as a street artist. Many artists might put the

arrest behind and move on. Why did you decide to share your

experience, with a short movie? How has this documentary shaped your

future opportunities?

The decision to make a feature documentary came about in a fairly gradual way. An acquaintance of mine was interested in making a short film consisting of various Montreal artists who were engaged in unsanctioned public interventions of one kind or another. When I agreed to be filmed the project was still pretty ambiguous and it seemed most likely that it would be a short 5 minute vignette if it got produced at all. When I got arrested and a public debate ensued the filmmaker felt naturally inclined to follow the story and I didn’t resist. I had a vague sense at the time, correctly or not, that documenting this could be beneficial to me and my legal battle with the City. At the least, it seemed like a good opportunity to capture a very remarkable moment in my life. It still wasn’t established that a feature documentary would be made but I continued to spend time with the filmmaker and what was at first merely an acquaintance became a friendship. Over time, as interest and funding for the project grew the decision to make a feature seemed natural.

14) For the first time, at 2010 at Galerie Punkt, you had a

retrospective exhibition of your artwork ‘ON & OFF’. What encouraged

you to exhibit your work in closed space?

It wasn’t the first time that I worked in an indoor space but it’s something that I am open to. I’m definitely not a purist when it comes to street art. Like I’ll only work on the street and anything else is a compromise. When you’ve spent most of your time painting the road or the sidewalk it’s always a welcome challenge when you’re presented with a different space whether that’s wall or an indoor space for example. At the end of the day, the important thing is finding solutions that will transform a space in some way.

15) How do you choose your locations? What do you look out for?

I choose my locations over the course of my comings and goings throughout the city on bike or on foot. I’ve developed the habit of looking at the city with a street artist’s eye and I’m always thinking of different possibilities for different spots around town. If some idea is persistent enough I may get around to actually executing it.

16) What message would you like to leave the world with your graffiti’s?

I would hope that I could inspire others to express themselves in a way that questions the status quo and their environment.

17) Previously you have mentioned how significant Marshall McLuhan

quote ‘medium is a message’ is. How does this quote illustrate your

unique approach to street art?

That sounds way more scholarly than I really am. But it’s a famous quote that seems to account for the mechanism by which street art derives its impact. Goes back to what I was saying before. A tag painted on a canvas in someone’s basement means something different than the same tag painted on the wall of a bank for example. It’s the medium, the context that’s important and not the actual content or imagery, especially in the case of what I do where the imagery would be very innocuous outside of its intended context.

18) What do think about street art as modern urban art form exhibited

in white cube galleries?

I think if it’s truly “street art” than it loses its impact and meaning when it turns up in a gallery setting. That’s not to say that street artists can’t create work intended for the gallery that’s exciting and interesting. Or that there’s no value/interest in displaying “street art” in the gallery. But I definitely think it loses something like seeing a lion in a zoo as opposed to in its natural habitat.

19) What can we expect from you next?

Evolution hopefully.

20) What is the most fearless thing you have ever done?

Do you mean fearless or in spite of fear. I’ve done a lot of things in spite of my fear which for me is more important ’cause it implies a confrontation of fear. If I’m fearless about something than fear is a non-issue. Hard to put my finger on one thing but performing music live for me use to be great source of fear which I had overcome. In some ways my fear associated with breaking the law, doing street art pales in comparison.

21) Who do you look up to, as your IDOL?

The closest I ever came to idolizing anybody was Herbie Hancock. And my father to some extent which I think a lot of boys do. Andy Goldsworthy as far as artists go but I wouldn’t call that idolatry.

What’s your definition of art?

That’s like asking what’s your definition of food? It’s everything from a saltine cracker to the best meal you’ve ever had in your life.

What can we expect at the show?

A glass of red wine in a plastic cup and some cheese with toothpicks attached to it.

What’s your prefered ‘canvas’/medium?

Sarcasm.

What are some of the challenges you face in your line of art?

Trying to convince myself that I’m an artist.

Who are some artists who’s work has influenced yours?

Andy Goldsworthy and God

What inspires your work?

A need to say I do something in life. Feeling special.

What was one of the first ‘public pieces’ you’ve done and how did it come about?

I peed on a rock when I was 2 and noticed that it looked like a dog. It came about because I had to go pee.

How important is/how do you come up with the location of your outdoor instalations?

It’s pretty important but I don’t choose the locations often enough.

Where does your name come from?

A dream.

0 – How old are you and do you have any academic degree? (If so, do you use it?)

I’m 36 and I have a bachelor of music degree in jazz performance. I don’t use it in the sense that I’m not involved academically and don’t derive a living from playing music but I still perform from time to time and even make a little $ doing it.

1 – What were your first contacts with street art? Why do you think you chose using stencil as a way to express yourself?

I first got involved with street art when I decided to engage in a personal form of activism. I developed a stencil to mimic the bicycle symbols the City used to designate bike paths and sprayed my version of the symbol throughout Montreal to  condone cycling as an alternative to driving cars.  At first I treated these interventions  merely as a form of activism and only later, as they began to evolve, did I consider them to be art .

2 – You started using stencil in the streets as a way of protest. How do you see it nowadays? Is it still a way of protest?

It depends on the project but there is often an aspect of protest in the work that I do whether it is to criticize/comment on a certain issue or to simply protest against the mundaneness of the urban landscape for example.  I always try to tell a story of some kind whether it’s a one-liner or whether its got a beginning, a middle and an end.  The message is sometimes overt and sometimes more subtle but often contains en element of satire which is arguably a form of protest itself.  Street art that is done illegally (some would say it is not “street art” if it is not done illegally) is by its very nature a form of protest and is, in my opinion, a more potent form of protest than that which is done legally in the context of a commission for example.  While I often try to incorporate a spirit of protest in the legal work that I do it never seems to equal that of my earlier interventions. Luckily there is more to explore in art than just protest.

3 – By the way, how’s your relationship with the police now? Are you being more careful not to be in trouble with the police anymore? What sort of problems did you have with the justice system in Canada?

I personally have not had any problems with the police since the last time I was arrested in Amsterdam about 3 years ago and have actually been given police assistance during the execution of various projects over the years. I’ve definitely been more careful and have been engaging less and less in illegal forms of street art in the past couple of years. When I was first arrested for doing street art about 6 years ago, I was faced with the threat of heavy fines and possible incarceration but I managed to get off with some community service and some relatively light fines which I attribute to the public support I received at the time.

4 – Do you have people to help you with your stencils?

On large scale projects I often have an assistant or two to help with the execution and sometimes the preparation (cutting stencils for example) of the piece.

4 – For you, what has changed since you started with your interventions in the streets? What kind of experiences and knowledge have enriched your art?

The biggest change for me has been the fact that I’ve been getting opportunities to work in a greater variety of spaces and contexts and in general on a much larger scale than was possible when I was only working in a surreptitious and illegal manner. This has allowed me to try things artistically that I wouldn’t have considered in the illegal context and has broadened my palette in terms of colour, technique, concept, my approach in general and even the media I work with. While I’ve enjoyed a high degree of artistic freedom in general when it comes to commissioned work there is always a certain degree of compromise that takes please even while I’ve simultaneously enjoyed greater freedom from legal hassles and technical limitations. This compromise is often manifested in the space that is made available and the restrictions that are inherent to that space. This creates a set of limitations that can paradoxically inspire creativity through the need to find solutions that are tailored to a particular space. I would say this “negotiation” while sometimes a source of frustration has also been a great learning experience. Also the travel opportunities and the people I’ve met in different parts of the world since I started doing interventions has been very enriching.

5 – What kinds of work do you do now? How do you make a living?

I do a lot of commissioned work to make a living but continue to do street art and paint on canvas when I have the time.

6 – How is it important to intervene in the urban environment; what kind of effect you think your art has had on people?

It’s interesting for me to intervene in the urban environment because of the contradictions that exist there and the opportunities that are available for creating unexpected situations.  On one hand it is a democratic space unlike a gallery or museum for example where everyone is allowed bodily access. On the other hand it is anti-democratic insofar as most of the imagery and communication that you see there is controlled by either the government or by private interests and it is difficult for an individual to express anything . Also, your access to and your experience of public space is determined by the means of transportation you choose whether you drive a car, bicycle, walk or take public transportation. If you do not own a car for example you are denied access to a large area of the road. On the other hand, if you walk you can experience the city on a more intimate level than someone in a car. Because people do not necessarily expect to see art when they walk down the street as they do when they enter a gallery and because the city is almost intentionally designed to be “predictable” the opportunity to create elements of surprise is enhanced and by the same token important.

7 – Are you still living in Montreal? What other places have you taken your stencils? What kind of reactions do you observe from the passerbies?

I still live in Montreal but have traveled to and worked in many other cities and reactions range from marvel and wonderment, to disgust or downright indifference.

8 – Now that a lot of graffiti artists are receiving more and more attention from the media and from the galleries, museums… Do you think street art has changed after that? Do you observe any negative or positive change throughout the last years?

It’s hard to speak of “street art” as a unified phenomenon but when something becomes labeled then it is perceived as such. When I started doing street art I wasn’t aware of it as a movement of any kind (I didn’t even know who Banksy was) apart from graffiti and I admit that the notion of street art as a fashionable thing has tainted my experience of it a little bit although at the same time it’s allowed me opportunities for travel and work that probably wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for the ‘fashionability” of street art. But the idea of creating art in an unsanctioned way in the street is still fresh to me and will probably remain so as long as there is public space. And outside of the internet, it still remains a relatively rare experience to behold exciting and unexpected art while walking down the street.

I recently read a quote from you within a Street Art book that “RoadsWorth, Inspired by political beliefs to create art in the space beneath out feet”. Would i be able to ask what these political beliefs are, and how they relate towards some of your best pieces?

I wouldn’t say I was motivated by any particular ideology but rather a common sense reaction to conditions present in my own environment. It seems clear to me when I look at most cities and given my basic understanding of geopolitics and environmental science that the lifestyle we are leading as a whole is unsustainable and generally unsound. Global warming, wars waged over diminishing oil resources, a widening gap between rich an poor and over-consumption in general are some of the factors that aggravate already strained relationships between populations. It seems obvious to me that anyone with common sense would want to mitigate the effects of these factors if peace and general well-being are truly the objectives of a responsible society. Such statements could be construed as revealing of anti-capitalist sentiment but I would argue that it is more common sense than ideological affiliation that determines my outlook.  Yes there are aspects of the status quo that I object to and it so happens that the status quo in the world and North America in particular is based on capitalist notions. While I am not one to renounce a system wholesale I do feel that there are harmful fundamentalist attitudes that apply just as much to political systems such as capitalism as they do to religion for example. While some acts of rebellion call for a complete reversal of a given system my brand of rebellion is less “revolutionary” in the sense that it advocates a mitigation rather than a renunciation of the status quo. Sometimes I fear that if certain conditions are left unchecked then a revolution will in fact be necessary and the pendulum will have to swing abruptly to the other side which historically has always resulted in suffering and hardship. In other words if the world were human then I would say that its health is seriously compromised and that it should start eating better and exercising rather than waiting until it requires aggressive and invasive surgery.

Having said this, when I started doing street art I didn’t think of what I was doing as art at all but rather a form of activism. My target for criticism was “car culture” in general which to me epitomizes some of the attitudes and issues raised above. I started by making bike paths around the city because for me the bicycle is not only my primary mode of transportation but also a symbol of a healthier and more human approach to city living. With time my preoccupations became more aesthetic and varied politically, poetically and symbolically.

also i am going to include (with your approval) the images Dandelions and Footprint within my paper, and i am mainly interested in any background information you could give me, such as how they were thought of in the first place, what the process of getting it down was etc, anything you could tell me would be helpful.

The Dandelions I did in a parking lot with the approval of the owners so I wouldn’t call it “street art” in the pure sense of the word although perhaps I falsely represented it on my website. There is no deep meaning behind it other than the notion that nature has somehow reclaimed space that is designated to cars and human industry in general. It was also an opportunity to explore the idea of representing movement with static imagery. The dandelion seeds flying away in the wind is also meant to suggest that perhaps other parking lots will be taken over by this weed, by nature.

The footprint was done illegally and took a long time to execute because I had to be very patient as it was in a very exposed location and I had to wait for traffic to subside long enough to lay down each section. I like this piece a lot because it can be read on a political or not so political level and it was accomplished by making relatively few alterations to the existing cross-walk.

my final question is that i read that you were arrested for producing your fabulous pieces; how was it that you were released? who fought on your behalf? what truce was made between Montreal’s city council and yourself?

I was lucky to have a local gallery owner by the name of Chris Hand come to my rescue in the sense that he started a bit of a “save roadsworth” campaign on his blog which was quite popular at the time and he put me in contact with a great lawyer who specializes in “civil rights” cases and who offered me his services more or less pro bono. I also had the fortune of having the local media more or less on my side which I think had a huge impact on the eventual outcome. While in the beginning I had 83 counts of mischief brought against me (eventually boiled down to 51) and threatened with potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and jail time, I ended up paying about $300 and doing 40 hours of community service. I was on probation for a couple of years but now have no criminal record.

if i could also ask, what would be your favorite piece of roadsworth street art grafitti that you have completed yourself and why?

really hard to answer that question but I like the footprint a lot for reasons expressed above.

1. People said that you were motivated by a desire for more bike paths in the city and a questioning of “car culture” in general, is that true? Tell us more about your motivation because Chinese readers think it is not simple as you said.

That’s always been one of the motivations or at least justifications for painting the streets, especially in the very beginning.  There are lots of things that I want to express but one of my preoccupations has been the extent to which cars and the infrastructure required to accommodate them dominate the landscape of the city. Not only does this reality strike me as unsustainable given the current problems facing the world but it creates an atmosphere both physical and psychological that as a city dweller and cyclist have always seemed oppressive to me.  While the car itself could merely be seen as a transportation device, for me it epitomizes a whole way of life, attitude, political orientation and psycho-spiritual condition that transcends the car as object. In fact there are a number of other modern phenomenons that one could view under a similar lens but car culture is one of those phenomenons that has interested me and informed my artistic approach. As time goes on however, my practice as a street artist and as an artist in general has reflected a broader range of concerns.

2. You were arrested in 2004 because of your art, why do you insist your graffiti? You know, in China, we have billions of bikes and billions of cars, but there are few artists go against the government.

Luckily for me the government doesn’t hold the same sway here in Canada as it appears to in China. Although I’ve never tried, it seems to me that the consequences of practicing graffiti in China are potentially a lot graver. Ultimately it is believed here in Canada that the government exists to serve the majority of the people and not the other way around. Many believe that it is ones duty as a citizen to challenge ones government and by doing so bring about positive change particularly when the government has become corrupt, incompetent or no longer serves the interest of the people it’s supposed to represent. Of course this does not mean that there are no laws or consequences to breaking the law in Canada and I when I was arrested I was potentially facing life altering (but not ending) consequences including jail time and heavy fines. It was mostly due to public support in the form of a letter writing campaign, petitions and media that was sympathetic to my cause, not to mention sound legal advice, that allowed me to come out relatively unscathed. From what I understand, China’s media culture is not as open as in other parts of the world so this kind of rallying of public sympathy might not be possible there. Having said this it is debatable how independent from the government the media really is especially in the United States for example which is supposedly an open society. While I believe that a society needs rules and laws to function properly, I also believe that true authority is open to criticism and only tyrannical authority needs to resort to censorship, repression and violence.

3. Who or what thing give you courage to paint at the very beginning?

It seemed to me at the time that hypocrisy and denial was so entrenched in society as a whole including government, corporations and the public in general that pointing this out would at best be a benefit to others and at worst go completely unnoticed.  I never felt that what I was doing was harmful, especially in contrast to the flawed, unsound and unconscious way of life that I was vaguely criticizing.  The world seemed in such disarray at the time that I started doing this and there was so much negativity, fear and violence being perpetrated by many and being portrayed in the media that I felt I had nothing to lose by expressing something in a non-violent, artistic fashion. I think the fact that what I did was so positively received by the public attests to my generally positive intentions.

4. Do you love the city you live? Do you think you make your city more attractive by your art?

Yes I do and my desire to leave a mark here is in some ways an homage to the city and the people that live here. Despite the beauty that exists in the city there is also a lot of ugliness in the form of pollution, garbage, advertising, noise, bad architecture, freeways, concrete, grayness etc.  It is the people that live in a city and leave their mark there that contribute the most beauty in my opinion and not the billboards and ads for example that are left by corporations that don’t have any interest in the city and its space beyond the financial benefits it may reap.

5. If you were the mayor of your city, how do you want to change your city?

I would greatly improve the public transportation system, increase the number of bike paths and pedestrian walkways and find ways of employing the artistic talent to beautify the city.

6. Do you know how many pieces of works you did? Is that including your team’s works?

Hard to say exactly depending on what qualifies as “work” but I would say between 200 and 300 pieces.

7. Is there any inconvenience or privilege after you become famous?

You get a lot more unsolicited emails and therefore spend a lot more time answering emails than you used to. Also there’s a danger of becoming typecast and the feeling that one has a “reputation” to maintain.

8. What’s your favorite part of the painting process?

Hard to say but I like the conceptual phase where I imagine what can be done to transform a space.

9. Do you make a living from what you’re doing now, or do you supplement your freelancing income with other work?

Yes I make a living from art.

10. Do you have a social life? How do you go about managing the demands of life, work and play?

Not only do I have a social life but more importantly I have a wife and two kids.

11. What the differences between you and Banksy?

Banksy is more explicit with his politics and I am more suggestive. Bansky is slightly more sarcastic and a lot more famous.  Also he has managed to more or less maintain his anonymity.

12. What books do you have on your bedside table?

I have a book by Howard Zinn called “America: A People’s History” or something like that and a book of Buddhist Philosophy.

13. As a child, did you want to become a street artist?

I wanted to become a lot of things but never a street artist.

14. What project has given you the most satisfaction?

Being a father.

15. what advice would you give to the young?

Take risks. Don’t be angry.

1)Which one, out of all the fabulous illustrations you’ve painted, is your favourite?

That’s a tough question but one of my favourite pieces is “North American Footprint” in which I transformed a cross-walk into a footprint.  I like this piece for several reasons. First I like the fact that the cross-walk was transformed with a minimum of interference on my part. At first glance, a pedestrian may not even notice that there’s anything amiss and I’ve always liked the subliminal aspect of this kind of street art. I also like the fact that the piece can be interpreted in different ways such as on a political or comical level or everything in between.  I’m also proud of this piece because it was a challenge to execute as it was done in a very high traffic area of the city.

2)What made you decide to cover the streets with your paintings, and who/what inspired you?

One of my early inspirations was an artist by the name of Andy Goldsworthy. Although he works mostly in rural areas and with natural materials I wanted to translate the spirit of his work in an urban setting.  My earliest stencils however were of bicycles because I wanted to make a statement about the lack of bike paths in the city and the predominance of car culture in general. In this sense I would say that my desire to paint the streets was motivated by an activist impulse more than an artistic one.  The more I painted the street however the more I started to feel like an artist.

3)When people have negative opinions about your work, on the radio or elsewhere, how does it make you feel?

I honestly haven’t heard many negative opinions about my work except from people who take issue with their illegal dimension and who perceive street art and graffiti as a threat to public security in general. This never really bothered me because it’s these attitudes in part that I’m trying to address when I paint illegally.  While not dismissing them outright I feel that the political motivations that often underlie the condemnation of graffiti and street art are hypocritical and often obscure the real problems that exist. Depending on the nature of the criticism, I often consider it a sign that some sort of discussion has been provoked which I ultimately consider a compliment.

Do people suggest what to spray-paint, or do you come up with these wonders yourself?

I mostly come up with the ideas myself although people like to offer suggestions.

What did it feel like to break the law?

It was scary, exciting and sometimes empowering although I think it’s because I was taking a risk to express something rather than simply because I was breaking the law.

How did you get caught, if you mind answering that ? (me and my nosy questions!)

I was trying to finish a piece on the road when I noticed the unmistakable lights of a police car approaching. I immediately dropped the spray can I was holding and assumed my “innocent bystander” stance although I guess I looked somewhat suspicious as it was 4 o’clock in the morning and I had paint splatters on my shirt and pants. The officers pulled over to where I was standing but apparently didn’t notice the half sprayed stencil just a few feet away or my knapsack full of spray cans for that matter. They actually let me go after I gave them some lame excuses about what I was doing on the street at that hour. I got on my bike and rode several blocks away from the scene of the crime while feeling relieved that I had escaped such a near brush with the law when suddenly I noticed a police car swerve in front of me while another zoomed up from behind. In no time there were 3 or 4 police cars (can’t remember the exact number) surrounding me and soon after that I was in handcuffs and on my way to the police station.

What kind of thoughts flickered through your head as you were led to court, or the classic: Did your life flash before your very eyes?

I actually felt surprisingly calm about the whole thing with the exception of a few hard days and nights.  I had an uncanny feeling that things would work out somehow especially later on when I realized that I had a lot of support from the community.

Who were your most ”loyal and gallant supporters”?

Chris Hand from Zeke’s Gallery in Montreal was one of the first people to come to my aid. He put me in contact with a lawyer who eventually offered his services more or less pro bono and he also set up a “Save Roadsworth” campaign on his gallery’s website.  Several members of the art community in particular were ardent supporters but I also enjoyed the support of many Montrealers with no connection to the arts.

What’s your position on making a longer, newer documentary?

I can’t imagine being the subject of another documentary any time soon.  Maybe in another lifetime…but who knows.

And Finally (whew!) but most importantly, what do you do now???

I’m working on various commissions, a book and learning how to paint on canvas.

1. When you first laid down your first stencil, the bike path symbol, did you imagine it as some sort of artwork?

No, I did not think of the first stencil, the bike symbol, as “art.” I thought of it more as a kind of activism although in retrospect I realize that there was something artistic about the impulse.

2. What were some things were running through your mind when you sprayed your first stencil/piece?

My heart was definitely pounding as I had never really done anything openly illegal before but was nevertheless driven by a feeling of conviction and a certain amount of righteousness.

3. After the bike path, you started to lay down many other types of stencils playing around with the existing elements on the streets, what was your intention with all of that?

I think my intention was similar to that which led me to create bike paths insofar as I still felt strongly about issues related to public space and the tyranny of “car culture” (for lack of a better phrase) But I think my approach was becoming more sophisticated and “artistic” in the sense that I was trying to communicate feelings about my environment/the city/society that transcended words or classical notions of activism. I think I was also trying to emulate a little bit the work of one of my favourite artists at the time, Andy Goldsworthy.

4. Were the placements of your stencils arbitrary? Or does each stencil’s placement have some sort of history or background?

The placements were for the most part arbitrary in the sense that they did not relate directly to a specific intersection or store etc. but they were definitely tailored to specific patterns that can be found in a city’s road markings, sewer covers and other infrastructural elements.

5. What did you think when the city starting giving you commissions to do these stencils around the city, the very same work that got you arrested?

I was definitely surprised but in retrospect it makes sense to me. I think that the City (at least the City of Montreal) is generally lacking ideas and when an idea comes along that has public appeal they generally want to endorse it (as long as it doesn’t challenge the status quo too much. ) Getting hired and not put in jail though is mostly due to the public support I received following my arrest.  I think there was a political motivation too in hiring someone that had gained this kind of public support.

6. Do you think that the situation for artists who want to follow your type of art still face challenges? Challenges in terms of art and public space.

The challenges are definitely still there. The laws against “graffiti” and vandalism are as stringent as ever although perhaps there is more tolerance towards the idea of street art. I think that artistically the possibilities and therefore challenges have still barely been exploited.

7. The public/community seemed to have played a rather large role, being immensely supportive of your work. Did you think about putting up with a fight in the case of The City of Montreal Vs. Roadsworth because of that?

I thought about it but I was somewhat dissuaded from doing so by my lawyer at the time. He had offered his services pro bono but said that if I chose to refuse the City’s offer that he would not continue to represent me free of charge. My financial situation at the time was dodgy to say the least and I don’t think I had the stomach for a legal battle. I was happy to have escaped the justice system relatively unscathed.

8. I’ve read that you have been invited to speak in classrooms. How did that come about? Considering the fact that you were once a criminalized street artist?

Yes, I’ve spoken in many classrooms and many other contexts. The reality is that a lot of kids do graffiti and I think that some of the more progressive elements of the education system saw an alternative to that in my work.

9. Have there been people who have compared you to Banksy? If so, how do you feel about that?

Yeah, I’ve heard that comparison a lot although I think it’s mainly because he’s one of the few stencil artists that people know and it’s human nature to want to categorize/compare etc. I don’t have a problem with being compared to Banksy as I admire some of what he does but I think that there are a lot of other stencil artists who’s work is a lot more similar to his than mine.  I would say his work is more explicit than mine.

10. Do you feel as if you’ve evolved in any way since your first stencils?

I hope so. The commissions I have done in recent years have enabled me to “stretch out” a little more and try things on a larger scale and scope than was possible in the context of illegal street art. Having said that I think that street art in the pure sense and commissions are two different things and therefore require different approaches.

11. Where did the name Roadsworth come from?

It’s an homage to one of my favorite artists (as I mentioned before) Andy Goldsworthy but it’s also a play on the name of the poet Wordsworth. It seemed to me that what I was doing was a form of street poetry, as pretentious as that may sound, and therefore I replaced “Words” with “Roads”. I also liked the almost aristocratic/snobby sound of the name which seemed at odds with someone who could be considered a vandal.

12. Have you considered varying your style, or other types of mediums? If so, do you consider on changing your name to detach yourself from the name Roadsworth?

Yes I have thought about it quite a bit especially as the work I’ve done on the road is unmistakably Roadsworth.  To continue to do street art, especially in my home town, would require a name change as well as a new stylistic approach.

13. Lastly, if you were able to blast off into space and explore any planet, without getting harmed from any type of gas or pressure or by whatever scientific means, which planet would you go to? And if you were also able to leave a stencil on that planet, what would it be of?

I would go to Mars and make a massive stencil of an ostrich with its head in the sand to signify the denial inherent to man’s desire to conquer new frontiers when his own backyard is in shambles.

1. Do you think that graffiti should be legalised? Why?

2. What have people said about your unique street art?

3. Did you like to draw when you were younger?

4. Where did you get your nickname ‘Roadsworth’?

5. How has this ‘project’ changed your life and do you regret anything?

6. What are you doing now?

1. As long as it’s legal to drive your car, pollute the air, advertise, build ugly buildings, sell fast food, over-consume, allow people to go hungry, make war and allow banks to gamble money away while still reaping record profits then I think graffiti should be legalized.

2. People are generally encouraging and I am proud to say that the encouragement comes from, artsy types, b-boys, graffiti writers, mothers, fathers, little kids, old ladies and everyone in between. I’m happy that what I do has a certain mass appeal in terms of the demographics that appreciate it.

3. I did like to draw when I was younger but stopped drawing around high school only to take it up later on in life.

4.Roadsworth has a few associations. It’s an hommage to one of my first inspirations in street art  : the artist Andy Goldsworthy (although he’s not really a street artist himself) It’s also a reference to the poet Wordsworth. Where he makes poetry with words I do it with the road. Sounds a little pretentious I know but it should be taken lightly. Finally it’s the idea or the “worth” or “value” of the road i.e. the road’s worth.

5.I don’t regret too much except maybe not being discreet/careful enough about my street art before I got arrested although that led to another chapter of my life and a career that I don’t regret. sometimes I regret “playing it safe” as it were but I try to make up for that in other ways.

6.I’m doing a lot of commissions, some indoor, some outdoor, mostly public and trying to find time to learn how to paint on canvas. also thinking of different ways to hit the streets.

> What is it that drew you to painting on the streets,

> as opposed to

> painting on the walls of buildings (as many artists

> do), etc?

One of the reasons I chose to paint on the streets is

that asphalt is everywhere. There’s more asphalt than

anything else in the city and frankly, I’m surprised

that it hasn’t been exploited more than it has. I also

feel that the walls of most cities are generally

over-saturated with graffiti. Painting the streets

means you’re not competing with other pieces but it

also means you’re exposing yourself a lot more. Great

for “getting up” or should I say “getting down”

purposes but not so great for maintaining anonymity as

I discovered. There is a convention of viewing

art/images on the vertical plane that I wanted to

undermine. Playing with expectations is one of the

things I enjoy most about doing “street art” and

painting on the horizontal does just that. You’re just

not conditioned to expect art, advertising or any

other message to come at you from the ground. By

painting the ground, you’re simply adding another tool

to your arsenal of “expectation disturbance devices”

or “E.D.D.’s”. I think people are more receptive,

more open to dialogue when they’re hit with something

unexpected that doesn’t necessarily fit into their

lexicon of categorizations (reminds me of the problems

troops in Iraq are having when faced with the specter

of “terrorism” which in itself defies categorization

and therefore a manual dictated response). There is a

kind of subliminality about painting the streets and

working around street lines simply because asphalt is

so ubiquitous and its language (by language I mean

“street markings”) so predictable to the point where

we don’t even notice it.The goal is to jolt those

people out of their waking reveries who walk the

streets, staring at the ground or who stare

impassively at the road from behind the wheel of a

car. Most people are on auto-pilot and the city is

designed (subconciously and conciously to a certain

degree) to facilitate this. This brings me to perhaps

the main reason for choosing the street and that is

for what it represents, symbolizes for me. One of the

things it represents is a prevalent and collective

psychology marked by denial. On one hand the road is

“beneath the radar” so to speak, negligeable (at

least for those not having to maintain, build or pay

for it) “un note-worthy” and yet it is perhaps one of

the most defining symbols of civilization. The road

is the tentacle of conquest, trade,culture,

communication and more specifically, capitalism. There

is a certain reverence for the road that is not even

acknowledged but that I think is upheld by the fact

that it has maintained for the most part a certain

“pristineness” hitherto untainted by graffiti or

advertising for example. While it has brought

prosperity and humanity to where it is today I feel

that is both a symbol and an active agent in an

imbalance characterized by over-consumption and

unchecked capitalism in general. “Car culture” is a

manifestation of that and by hitting the road I wanted

to make a statement. I wanted to break through the

“reverence” , the “authority” of the road, open it to

scrutiny so to speak and thereby question our own

relationship to it and everything it represents .

> What does using the roads, and incorporating the

> existing municipal

> paint into your art, say about your art? What does

> that mean to you?

> And how does it effect how your audience perceives

> your art (if it’s

> possible for an artist to answer that last

> question)?

I think I answered this to a certain degree in

response to the question above. Using street paint

along with the clean, iconic aesthetic that’s derived

from the use of stencils was an effort to blend my

message with the stark, functional sometimes

authoritarian tone of the language of street markings.

Again, this was partly to achieve a subliminal

quality, partly to keep people guessing. I had a lot

of people come up to me saying that they thought that

what I did was maybe done by the City itself. This was

pretty satisfying to hear as this was partly the

intention. As I mentioned above, keeping people

guessing is the name of the game. It gets people

involved, it gets their minds working. I also think

working around municipal street markings provides a

great opportunity for a certain kind of satire.

Because the language is so drily functional,

authoritarian the contrast created by superimposing

something playful, humourous, bizarre, out of place,

whatever you want to call it, creates a comedic

tension that I find similar to satire.

> How does the fact that you have to (presumably) work

> beneath street

> lights, as opposed to in a dark alley, on top of a

> dark building, etc,

> affect how you work?

Well you definitely have to be very patient when

painting under the glare of street lights. When I

first started painting the streets I was using

cardboard stencils and paint out of a bucket. real

ghetto. you bascially had one or two chances to lay

something down ’cause if a car came along (and they

always do) and drove over it (and they have many

times) then your stencil is fucked and the night is

basically over. This forces you to take a lot more

risk ’cause you have to stick with the piece ’till

it’s done meaning you can’t leave and come back to it

if a car or worse a cop car comes along. With

cardboard it’s sort of all or nothing. Nothing worse

than an unfinished piece. Over time I started making

my stencils with more durable material that could

actually resist a car driving over it so I could start

something, leave the stencil behind and come back to

it in between surges of traffic. Plus I discovered

street paint in spray form which made the whole

process less messy and quick. I also got good at

recognizing the timing of street lights and therefore

the movement of traffic which helped me decide when to

lay down a piece. Working in this way means you’ve got

to operate very quickly and decisively.

> How does it affect what you actually paint? (would

> you be able to

> paint more complex stuff, with more colors etc if

> you were in a less

> open area? — would you even want to do that?)

Yeah definitely and I since I was arrested I have had

many opportunities to explore using more colours,

space, time etc… Different challenges present

themselves and the results are not necessarily better,

more interesting. There is something simple and

elegant about some of the pieces I did illegally and

relatively hastily that is not always present in stuff

that I’ve done legally, with all the time in the world

and with relatively few restrictions. You lose

something on one hand and gain something on another.

They’re almost two different things for me although

many of the same considerations go into legal pieces

as went into illegal ones.

> From what I’ve seen of your work, most of it tends

> to be yellow or

> white, like the lines on the streets, has it ever

> crossed your mind to

> use different color? Would that distract too much

> from its

> incorporation into the urban landscape?

Yeah I have thought of using different colours and I

already have when it comes to legally sanctioned,

commissioned work. One of the reasons for the limited

palate when it comes to what I paint on asphalt is

simply the fact that there is generally a limited

range of colours of street paint that can be obtained

“over the counter” as it were. But I also think that

the use of yellow and white maintains a certain

minimalism that blends nicely with street markings. I

find limitations are important when it comes to

creating in general. It forces you to find solutions

that you might not find otherwise if you had all the

time, colour etc… at your disposal. It’s those

solutions wherein lie the “art” in my opinion.

> Does the fact that your are painting on the streets

> lend the art a

> more communal and public air? Is that your

> intention?

Sure. I think the public space is extremely important

in so far as it is the space wherein a community, a

people, a society expresses itself as a whole. People

always throw around the notion of “freedom of

expression” as though it’s this wonderful thing that

we are blessed with but what does it really mean?

Thankfully I don’t live in a society where I will get

hanged for example for speaking out against the

president (alhtough this seems to be less and less

reassuring. one does risk losing his career however in

some cases) but expression isn’t as “free” as people

like to think. And even if you think it’s simply a

qestion of purchasing power then ask Ron English or

Adbusters for example who were denied the possibility

of renting billboard space despite having the

sufficient dinero to do so. If public space, the

messages that occupy it and the laws that govern their

propagation are an expression of who we are as a

people then we are predominantly people that

communicate via buying and selling. And wether this is

a result of such an environment or vice versa this is

probably true. We seem to communicate primarily

through the buying and selling of goods. Not that this

is a bad thing but I feel that there is a much wider

range of human expression that needs to be reflected

in the public space.

> What are the challenges with working on the streets?

I think I aswered this question in large part above.

To state the obvious, the illegal nature of painting

the streets is simulaneously a motivating factor and a

challenge. The physical nature of painting the streets

-staying up all night, covering large distances on

bike or on foot, carrying stencils and paint around-

is also a challenging aspect.

> You use the street, it seems to me, as a vehicle to

> comment on urban

> society by incorporating sly winks at consumerism or

> capitalism or big

> brother, etc; do you have any ideas for how to use

> the streets in a

> different way?

Although I bring up what people consider “politics”

when talking about my work it’s not just about making

a statement all the time. Often, I’ll do something and

I’m not even sure myself what I mean by it. There may

be certain allusions going on but sometimes it’s just

about being playful and/or doing something unexpected.

I want people to have their own interpretations of

things. I think that’s the beauty of art. It’s open to

interpretaion. I find that certain issues get

categorized as being “political” and there are many

people that have an aversion to politics probably

because they associate the word with all the mumbo

jumbo that gets spouted by politicians, the media

etc… But wehter you like it or not, we are political

beings in so far as we are subject to the demands

inherent to sharing a planet with other people. I

think we make political decisions every day wehter we

know it or not. The lifestyle you live affects other

people and their’s affects you. To deny politics of

any kind is to assume you’re an isolated being who has

no influence on others and is not influenced by

others. This is particularly the case in the city. A

street artist or graffiti artist makes a political

statement simply by virtue of the fact that he is

breaking the law wether he writes “Fuck Bush” , his

own name or a giant cock on the wall. As I said, I’m

not necessarily always commenting about Big Brother,

consumerism or capitalism,, although these are themes

that have come up but what I do (and I don’t

necessarily have a problem with it) often gets

interpreted that way.

> Finally, do you have any intention of moving beyond

> the streets?

Yeah I do and I already have.

>

In general what is your life experience?

I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada in what I would call an upper middle-class neighbourhood although technically speaking I come from a relatively middle class family. I was given a fairly conventional education via the public school system. Because my mother was an artist and my father a musician (not by trade) I was exposed to art and music from a young age. I was also very athletic growing up. I decided I wanted to become a musician during my teenage years and eventually attended university in Montreal where I studied Jazz performance. Have lived in Montreal for approx. 14 years where I have played music in various bands. I began doing street art in 2001.

What environments do you work in (studio, outdoors, ect.)? what is your work process?

I’ve worked in a variety of contexts (indoor, outdoor, on the ground, on walls) but I am generally drawn to the creation of outdoor installations. The process I undergo is generally as follows: First I start by scouting the area that’s been chosen for the installation. I usually take pictures, perhaps a few rough measurements. Then follows a period of conceptualization where I consider possibilities for the location. I usually like to draw inspiration from various aspects of the site in question whether visual, physical, historical etc…I like the idea of integrating the work with the environment. This is also a stage in the process where I do a lot of rough sketching and note taking. Once an idea has been decided I search for imagery whether from photos for e.g (my own or stuff found on web or in magazines for e.g.) or from direct observation from which sketches and eventually a more finished drawing is made. In some cases I will draw directly onto cardboard or I will transfer the drawing onto acetate which I then project onto cardboard or masonite. Some installations demand a certain amount of sizing of imagery especially when the imagery is to be used in conjunction with other elements but others can be done more directly without the use of an overhead projector. Once the image has been drawn onto cardboard or masonite, it is sometimes further refined (shading, or other modifications) and then cut out using an exacto knife or rotary saw. Once the stencil is complete it is ready for use on site. Because I often use repetition the stencil is more often than not used several times. Different colours, layers can be applied depending on the complexity of the piece in question.

What does your art do? And for whom?

I think that depends a lot on context. My desire is that art will surprise or delight in some way. The work that I seem to be most well known for is that which was done illegally. The fact that it was illegal and therefore “uncontrolled” imbues it with a certain element of surprise which is harder to achieve in a more conventional context like the museum or art gallery for example. The imagery was therefore destined for anyone who happened to come across it whether that be a pedestrian, cyclist or someone driving there car and not the “gallery goer” for example who is usually invested with a certain amount of expectation even if it’s simply the expectation that he will be witnessing “art.” It is the accidental observer that I am mostly interested in reaching. Because the art exists in a space with other imagery whether that be in the form of advertising, street signage or all the other everyday objects that exist in the name of infrastructure, aesthetics, communication etc… one is compelled to somehow categorize the “foreign imagery” in question which forces a thought process that might not be initiated in a gallery space.

What do people where you live think about your art?

People seem to have a generally positive reaction to my art if the public support I received after being arrested in 2004 is any indication of the way Montrealers feel as a whole. I don’t think I would do it, at least in a public context if I didn’t think people would react positively to it even though I feel that what I do has a satirical nature and is often intended to criticize or point out human hypocrisy/absurdity in some way.

What kind of training, traditions, movements, and expectations surround you as an art maker?

My art training is practically nil unless you count a couple of years of art classes in high school. I think I did receive a certain “training” however, exposed as I was to various kinds of art through my mother and artist friends of hers who would come to the house where I grew up and who were sometimes hired as babysitters to me and my two sisters. Later in life I made friends with people, many of whom have been or are still involved in graffiti or street art on some level which has evolved a “tradition” of its own albeit a continuously evolving one. I also studied art history in university for a couple of years before going into music.

Who influences you as an artist?

Andy Goldsworthy was probably the artist that inspired me the most when I decided to do “street art” but Claus Oldenburg was also a bit of an influence. There are several street artists that influence me although I discovered most of them after I began doing street art myself.

What was your family life like growing up?

I had a fairly conventional (if such a thing is possible), stable family life in the sense that my parents have remained together with the exception of a brief separation during my adolescent years. I have two sisters and we have always maintained contact and a genial relationship as a family. My father worked quite a lot and my mother stayed at home but I never felt neglected in any way as a child. I never experienced any major financial instability growing up (that came later) although like all families, mine was marked by its own idiosyncracies and what I would call a mild level of dysfunctionality that I will not get into.

Was your family supportive of you being an artist as you grew up?

The fact of the matter is, I never intended to be a visual artist growing up but my family was usually supportive of anything that I wanted to do.

Does your family support your current work?

Yes.

Is there a large community of artist in the same field as you where you live?

Yes, there are many artists in the area where I live which is Montreal’s Plateau. I heard a statistic once suggesting that the community with the highest density of artists (or something to that effect) in North America is in fact Montreal’s Plateau. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were indeed true. It’s almost become a joke of sorts. Everybody seems to call themselves an artist where I live.

If so what do they think of your work?

I’ve mostly only heard positive things from other artists although it is generally only the ones who want to say something positive that volunteer their opinions. I tend not to ask a lot of people what they think so…Ironically though I find that artists can be a “tougher crowd” than say non-artists but I guess that makes sense considering the fact that they are naturally endowed with a more critical faculty when it comes to art. I think there can also be a bit of a competitive attitude that develops between artists (especially given the high-density of artists that I mentioned above) that can be negative I find if it causes isolation but can also have a positive galvanizing effect depending on personalities, context etc…

What do art critics think of your work

I have not elicited the attention of many art critics as I have never really presented my work in the context of a solo exhibition which seems to be the primary purview of the art critic. I have received a little bit of art criticism and it has always been positive but because all of the work I have done has been either illegal, commissioned by a strictly speaking “non-art” institution of some kind or in the context of a group exhibition, the official criticism has either been non-existant or passing. I did receive a fair amount of positive criticism I guess when I was first “outed” as a street artist but again, I almost felt as though they were not quite sure what to do with me.

What schooling have you had?

As mentioned above, some high school art classes, a few art history classes and a Bachelor of Music.

What art courses have you had?

See above.

How did you get into this art field?

Mostly through the influence of friends but also as the result of an activist impulse.

What inspires your art?

Music, movies, other artists, the city, nature, politics, hypocrisy, absurdity, ego, love, life.

It seems to me that you knew you were taking a risk, and breaking the law, but I’m wondering did you have a clear philosophical mandate that was driving what you were doing? Or did that philosophy crystallize after you had begun, and gotten a taste for the thrill of the action?

The fact of the matter is, when I first started painting the streets of Montreal, I was not even thinking of it as an art project per say. Although I had been toying with the idea of subverting street linage in a “poetic” fashion, my initial forays into street painting originated in a more activist impulse. I have always had strong feelings regarding city space, how it is used (or misused) and how it is reflective of an overall attitude and collective state of mind. I am particularly sensitive to, what seems to my mind, the disproportionate amount of space occupied by advertising on one hand and “car culture” on another and the psycho-spiritual implications of these in general. The first stencil I ever did was that of a bicycle symbol and it was meant as a form of protest over the lack of bike paths in the city despite a growing chorus of concern over traffic congestion, smog, global warming and all of the other nefarious consequences associated with oil consumption in general. Besides the inherent absurdity of “car culture”, especially in the context of the city, I have always been fascinated by what it represents on a symbolic, psychological and political level. Several themes including individualism, capitalism, freedom, denial, community, isolation, sexuality, consumerism…the list goes on, are present in our relationship to the automobile. I am often amazed at how attached some people are to their cars and how sensitve they become when you question the notion of car culture, as if one were attacking their very person.  This and the fact that ashphalt is so ubiquitous made the road seem like a natural backdrop to express these notions. Street signage also provided a basic “language” that seemed ripe for satire and subversion in general. As time went on, what began as a form of activism evolved into something of an art project relying nevertheless on the reasoning above to justify the illegality of my actions.

(I apologize in advance for the prosaic-ness of this question:) In your mind, is there a difference between graffiti and art?

In my mind, graffiti is related to a writing or lettering of some kind. I think the term “graffiti” has been used to describe all forms of illegal iconography simply because graffiti writers have been the only ones, or at least the vast majority of those that have been expressing themselves illegally. I myself was charged with acts of “graffiti” even though technically it is not what I do. People tend to differentiate between graffiti and art with the inference being that graffiti is lower down the scale from art. In my opinion there is good graffiti and there is bad graffiti just as there is good art and bad art. There is graffiti that demonstrates a sophistication of colour sense, composition and form that is on par with many great works of art and there is graffiti that is done hastily and simply as a means of declaring one’s existence. The whole discussion of what is art and what isn’t art is more the purview of the art critic but I’m sure there will come a day (and it has already come to a certain extent) where “graffiti” (and it’s already come to a certain extent) will find it’s way into the art gallery.

How do you react to those who think that your pieces may be cause distraction or confusion to motorists, which would be potentially harmful?

I’ve heard that argument many times and I was a little worried about that at one point. At the same time that argument smacks of the kind of thinking that was going around for a while in the U.S. for example when people were berating anti Iraq war activists saying their activities were endangering soldiers in the field. I’m sorry, but protesting war is not endangering people’s lives, war is endangering people’s lives. And while there is obviously a big difference between these issues, I do feel that I was involved in a form of protest on some level and I do feel that the mentality that would prompt someone to make such an argument is very similar. As far as I’m concerned, our lifestyles and consumption habits, particularly our consumption of oil, pose a far greater danger to health and indeed humanity as a whole than do someone’s desire to express themselves. If people were legitimately concerned that what I was doing was a safety risk than all advertising, cell phones and miniskirts for that matter would have to be outlawed. In fact, a study was conducted recently in a town in Holland where they removed all signage of any kind and found that there were actually less accidents as motorists were prompted to be more alert. Indeed, I find that people drive on auto-pilot most of the time and as a cyclist this is a cause for concern. I think most people are on auto-pilot a lot of the time whether it’s behind the wheel of a car or in everyday life and this is the real danger. If safety was really such a concern there would be more bike paths for the thousands of people in Montreal that ride their bike every day.

Do you know the actual number of paintings you’ve done? And what date did you do your first?

That’s hard to say but I’ve probably done a couple hundred designs and several hundred repetitions of these at one time or another, some of which were done in France and Spain. The first one I did was a bicycle symbol which I think I did in October 2001.

I read that the name Roadsworth is a variation of Andy Goldsworthy’s last name? Is this true? Did you give it to yourself, or did someone give it to you?

Yes that’s partly true. Andy Goldsworthy’s work had a big influence on me when I got into street art but it’s also a tongue and cheek take on the  poet Wordsworth, substituting “Road” for “Word” because I kind of think of what I do as a form of road poetry at least in technical terms. I also liked the kind of aristocratic tone of “Roadsworth” as it’s a little more unusual and “high-brow” let’ say than the kind of monikers that a lot of graffiti artists use for example who seem to draw mostly on hip-hop  vernacular/culture for inspiration. A third interpretation of it is in the literal sense i.e.  a road’s worth or value. I’ve had a lot of nick  names  throughout my life but this one I came up with myself.

Do you have pics of the school yard project?

yes, I’ll try and send you a few

Now what? The community service is over with, so what comes next?

I’ve already had several “legit” contracts in various contexts including and most ironically the City of MOntreal but also the cirque du soleil , earth day Quebec and others and looks like I will be doing more things of this nature. As far as the less “legit” goes, that is for me to know and for the streets to find out.

what was getting arrested like? what were you

thinking/feeling during that whole process?

Getting arrested was obviously disappointing for me in

the sense that I knew it meant the end of this

particular project or phase of my life and there were

still a lot of pieces/ideas I wanted to execute. This

was probably the most disappointing aspect about being

arrested. Despite the list of charges that were

brought against me and the potentially damaging

consequences I had a strange feeling that everything

would work out for me. Call it a premonition of some

kind. There were a few days of fairly intense anxiety

where I felt that things were looking very bleak but

that passed soon enough as I started to realize that

there was a certain amount of public sentiment that

supported what I did. That didn’t make me think I was

necessarily going to get out unscathed but it did help

me take my mind off a potentially ugly situation. I

felt strangely calm during the arrest itself and the

24 or so hours I spent in a jail cell were painfully

uneventful.

how did the arrest affect your art in the short term,

while things were still up in the air?

It was affected in so far as it brought a complete

halt to my artistic activities. At that time, the act

of doing art was as much about the adventure and risk

associated with doing it on the street as it was about

creating imagery. I stopped doing anything visual at

all for a while and resorted to music as my primary

creative outlet. Getting arrested definitely marked

the end of a chapter in my life and the beginning of

another.

Now that the charges (but one) have been dropped, did

the experience leave any lasting impact on you and

how/why you do your art?

Getting arrested made me go from an anonymous entity

to one that became “known” to both the authorities and

to a certain extent the public. That reason alone has

not only made my previous approach to art (at least in

Montreal) impossible but also less interesting for me.

The mystery associated with what I was doing was not

only necessary from a practical point of view but it

also imbued the work I was doing with a certain

power/impact that exists only when the quality of

expectation is absent. Getting arrested definitely

served as a “slap in the face” which forced me to

question more closely the motivations behind my

actions. Although there are always challenges/risks

associated with doing art of any kind whether it be

legal or illegal, indoor/outdoor, horizontal/vertical

etc…. there is definitely something unique about the

process involved in doing the work that I did prior to

my arrest that I found satisfying on many levels.

Getting arrested however brought about a whole other

process of making art with its own set of challenges

which I also find satisfying.

Can you give me details about the community service

project you were ordered to do? If I understand, it

was to produce a piece for the Plateau region?

Soon after I received my sentence -40 hours of

community service in an artistic capacity on the

Plateau and $250.00 in fines, a slap on the wrist

under the circumstances- I was contacted by an

organization made up mostly of parents of kids who

attended a primary school in the Mile End District of

Montreal. They had read of my case and the sentence I

had received in one of the local newspapers and asked

if I would participate in a fundraiser they were

organizing to raise money for the re-landscaping of

the Lambert-Closse school yard, a virtual slab of

concrete devoid of any greenery and resembling a

prison courtyard. Having recently been pressured by my

probation officer at the time to decide on a project

that would satisfy the requirements of the court (I

had a certain amount of time in which to decide on a

project) and having a personal attachment to the

neighbourhood in question and the idea of revitalising

space in general, I accepted to participate. I ended

up painting a large section of the schoolyard over the

course of about 3 or 4 days, the school

bazaar/fundraiser went ahead as planned and I was able

to fulfill my debt to society.

1. How do you understand your work in connection to
the city? Is there anything else you’d like to say
about street art and the city?

It’s been said many times but I’ll say it again. A city, like a person has a soul, a personality or whatever you want to call it that is specific to that particular city. What elements conspire to generate this feeling is not clear but it is probably the result of several factors: history, the people, the geography, the politics etc…Of course a city like a person can have different personalities so it is even harder to put a finger on what it is that gives a place its particular feeling.  Furthermore each person has his own relationship to a given place and therefore his own particular feelings toward it as filtered through his unique personality.  I mention this because I feel that graffiti, street art are examples of different ways that people manifest their relationship to a city or place in general. One could say the same for any activity that takes place in a certain place but I think that the way in which street artists and graffiti writers interact with a city is one of the most direct and literal manifestations of this relationship. Common, public space is as much a physical manifestation as it is a metaphor for what is the essence of the city or “cityness”. In theory at least, it is the property of the “citizen” and the fact that street artists and graffiti writers intervene in this space makes them actors who have a direct relationship to their city  as opposed to the legions of commuters for example who passively, “transitorily” experience it from within their personal climate and sound controlled environments as they sit in traffic or whizz by in their cars. Style is another aspect that suggests an association to place. “Wild Style” and painting trains for example is as directly related to New York City in the 70′s and 80′s as Pixacao is to Sao Paulo. Barcelona which is a legendary city for street art (despite the  fact that a zero tolerance policy has recently been put into effect there) seemed to me to have a unifying spirit despite the multiplicity of techniques and styles that coexist there. I think style is the result of other factors as well and with globablisation and the internet for example (that phrase is begining to sound so cliche) it is harder and harder to speak of culture in general as being local. Despite this,  I still think that my environment has had as much to do with the development of my particular “style” as any other influence. Montreal, which is where I first started doing street art informed and inspired  what I’ve done to a large extent.   Generally speaking, I think cities inspire graffiti and street art simply by virtue of the number of people and therefore potential viewers but also as a response to all of the other visual media that exists, particularly advertising. I also think that cities engender a certain kind of psychology that inspires people to want to express themselves to the general public. In areas of high population density, people seem to create psychological barriers, walls, bubbles for themselves that perhaps perform the practical function of “screening” incoming stimuli, noise, people that one is confronted with on a daily basis  but which can be collectively alienating, especially to more marginal elements of a society. I think that graffiti and street art, whether conscious or not, is somehow a response to this atmosphere that exists in cities and in some cases an effort to break through the everyday “noise.” In general this is what street art is to me but like everyone, I have my own special interests and battles within that context.

2. How important is place/context in the experience of
your art? Do you consider your work site-specific?

A lot of people think that what I’ve done on the street is directly related to a nearby building or place but while this is often the case with much of the legal commissioned work I’ve done and sometimes the case with the illegal work I’ve done it is by no means a general rule. However,  I do go to a fair amount of trouble in tailoring an image to its intended location but the location itself is rarely of particular significance unless one considers the road a “location”. The road in general is loaded with meaning and represents many things. It has a unique status in that its sole purpose is one of transit, of movement. One does not typically dilly dally on the road. In this sense it is not a location at all but an “anti-location”, an intermediary between points A and B. It resides in what anthropologists refer to as a liminal state. I think the fact that the road occupies such an important space in our lives, physically, practically, politcally, psychologically etc…says a lot about the kind of species we are. Historically, roads have been a means of exploration,
communication, conquest, exchange. In the modern age, especially with the advent of the automobile, these attributes have been exaggerated on one hand but paradoxically diminished on another. While roads and the cars, trucks and in some cases tanks that use them have opened up the world so to speak to a greater rate of exploration, communication, conquest and exchange, a tipping point seems to have been reached where the relative accessiblility and ease of movement afforded by this increasing network of roads can actually have an isolating and alienating effect. The phenomenon of suburbs is a good example of that as is the commuter who drives to work, drives to the gym, drives home from the gym, drives to the video store, drives to the grocery store and drives home again without, theoretically ever having to step outside. This is facilitated by a “driver friendly” network of malls, box stores, drive throughs, parking lots, super-highways, suburbs etc…It seems the freedom and hyper-individualism that is promised by roads and the car in particular, which for me is the epitome of capitalism, has actually created a situation where people sit for hours in rows of traffic, where houses are all built to look the same, where everyone shops at Walmart, where everyone owns a car…In otherwords, a state of conformity. The problem is that North America and the world in general is so geared towards car accessibility that one almost needs one to participate. Of course this is not true in larger cities where there is an infrastructure which does not necessitate the owning of a car…in which case a heavily car dependant culture seems even more absurd especially given all the problems associated with cars like greenhouse gasses and the reliance on oil in general. I could talk at lenght on this subject but it is well known to everybody. Which brings me to another interesting aspect of “road culture” and that is one of denial. We’ve all heard the dire warnings about global warming, we all love to talk about evil oil companies and the wars that are fought in the name of oil but try getting someone to give up their car. it’s like getting someone to stop smoking. This is not to preach in any way because it seems to be an all too human characteristic to think one way but to act another. We all do it to a certain extent except maybe those who have attained a state of consciousness where their actions are completely aligned with their thoughts. I find this type of collective denial interesting and it is another aspect for which the road is a symbol. I also chose the road as “canvas” because I was surprised at what seemed like an exaggerated deference shown to the road, even by graffiti writers whose work nevertheless saturated the surrounding walls. I find it interesting that despite the ubiquitous nature of asphalt and the road in general, there is very little attempt to deface it in any way and this was more proof to me of how unconsciously sacred the road is to us as a society.  Finally, I find the road markings that are used and which are more or less universal speak a language that is gently yet authoritatively coercive and metaphoric of a collective unconscious not to mention many of the issues that were already discussed.  It is a language that I find irresistably ripe for manipulation, subversion, satire and poetry.

3. Has the Internet been a valuable tool in the
dissemination of your art? Is there anything else
you’d like to say about graffiti and the Internet?

No doubt although I think a lot of the recognition that I’ve received here in Montreal and Quebec also had to do with more traditional forms of media like newspapers for e.g. But definitely, the internet has provided me with a much wider “audience” then would otherwise be possible. It’s funny how much authority the internet can have sometimes. You could alter a photo in photoshop (an example comes to mind where someone faked the tagging of Airforce One using photoshop) put it on the net and claim that you are a street artist. Or you could hit one or two spots (they could be in your own backyard) take a picture and put it on the internet and give an impression that you are a street artist that gets up. I think the internet is an amazing tool and it has been beneficial to me but it is also interesting how it can be used to represent “reality.”

4. Do you enjoy exhibiting your work in galleries? How
is that experience different from your street work?

I’ve had very little gallery exhibition experience unless you consider work I’ve done indoors that wasn’t done in the context of a “gallery” per say. Being interested in the notion of intervention  or the integration of visuals within a given space I find that any and every space and/or situation has different possibilities and challenges. Obviously, the gallery is a “legal” environment and that changes the spirit of what is done to a certain extent but I am not a purist who believes that once a street artist always a street artist or that the only work that counts is what is done illegally and on the street. I welcome the opportunity to work in a variety of settings and situations because it forces you to come up with different solutions, approaches and that is fun.

5. Do you see your practice as at all connected to the
graffiti movement (hip-hop/signature graffiti)?

Yes I do. The name Roadsworth is kindof in the tradition of hip-hop insofar as I wanted to have a moniker like other graffiti writers, dj’s, mc’s althtough it’s a deliberately more aristocratic sounding name then most of the monikers you hear in hip-hop culture. It’s at the same time an hommage to that world as it is a self-awareness of not coming from or being particularly well-versed in it myself. I have several friends that are in one way or another related to hip-hop so it was partly their influence as well but there’s a bit of an ironic twist in there as well. In that sense, my connection to hip-hop/signature graffiti is as much an identification as it is a reaction to it.

6. Do you consider your work as interventions in the
public sphere?

That’s a good way to put it.

7. Do you consider your work as part of the visual
culture of the city? How?

Sure, if you can see it, it becomes a part of the visual culture. That’s the thing about cities. There’s so much going on visually speaking and a lot of it is manipulative in some way. My contribution to this landscape employs its own brand of manipulation that is informed in many ways by the overall visual culture. The word “manipulation” has a negative connotation because it implies that one is being coerced beyond one’s will. But it can also be a sort of massage that helps release tension and promotes opening particularly in the presence of other more harmful forms of manipulation.

1/ first off could you tell me a bit about your
background and what
inspired you to begin making street art and street
interventions.

I’m actually a musician by training but growing up I
was exposed to visual art in different forms partly
because my mother was an artist and many of her
friends were artists as well. One of my first
babysitters for example would take us to art galleries
and get us to draw and make stuff out of clay.
Throughout most of my life my primary focus has been
music but I always took a side interest in visual art.
That interest has been growing more and more since I
first started painting the streets about six years
ago.  My initial motivations for doing street art were
both activist and artistic in nature. The first
stencil I ever made was that of a bicycle symbol
because I’ve always been a proponent of cycling in the
city particularly as an alternative to what I consider
to be an absurd and generally unsound reliance on
cars. Some of my earlier work in particular was also
inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy (to whom the
name Roadsworth is partly  an hommage) but also
graffiti or “post-graffiti” culture, cartoons, comics
and the notion of language in general (Roadsworth is
also a tongue and cheek reference to the poet
Wordsworth as I feel that my work functions, at least
formally speaking, in a similar way to poetry).

2/ where did the idea for the street markings come
> from?

Street markings, like the asphalt on which they are
found, are ubiquitous and universal. They represent a
language to me that is very  functional, dry and
almost authoritarian in tone but simultaneously
pristine and nondescript thereby providing an
irresistable opportunity for subversion and satire.
I’ve always found it interesting that in most cities
the walls are often saturated with graffiti but the
asphalt, which probably covers more surface area than
anything else invariably remains untouched as if it
were sacred in some way, untoucheable. I’ve heard it
said that the mall is the modern day equivalent of the
cathedral but I would argue that the road has an
equally religious aura.  If capitalism is the religion
of our time than the automobile is one of its most
potent relics and the road its medium. This may seem
like an exaggeration but consider the type of language
and emotion that is evoked in car commercials for
example, the promise of freedom, of near spiritual
liberation that the car can provide. Or the way a
president will refer to “protecting a way of life”
when trying to justify war which is another way of
saying “keeping the gas pumps flowing.” Although most
wouldn’t admit to it on an individual basis there is a
quasi-religious devotion to consumerism on a societal
level of which car culture is the epitome.  It has
become so interwoven into the fabric of everyday life
as to become ritualistic and therefore unconcious to a
certain extent. Consumer habits are so widespread,
consistent and well promoted that they are rarely
questioned in any way that would compromise economic
and/or political expedience despite the undeniably
dire consequences that current levels of consumption
seem to indicate.  The road is therefore
representative of many things on a symbolic,
psychological and practical level. It exists in
symbiotic relationship to the automobile for example
which is in turn related to the oil industry which has
a relationship to the military industrial complex and
so on. The more roads there are, the more cars there
are. The more cars there are, the more need for oil
there is. The more need there is for oil, the more
weapons are needed. The more weapons there are…This
chain could equally be read in reverse, each link the
catalyst for another chain reaction and it is hard to
say (at least for someone like myself who is not well
versed in history) which came first, the chicken or
the egg, the car or the cruise missile.  This is
inevitably a simplistic assessment of the situation
but the point is, the road and its particular language
(i.e. street markings) is for me, loaded with
significance and therefore ripe for re-interpretation.
And because the road seems to take itself so seriously
it is also a tempting target for satire. Road markings
are for me, a metaphor for a certain state of mind and
relationship to the outside world that is endemic of
our time and is engendered by driving: Protected in a
bubble of steel and glass and immunized against the
harshness of the exterior world in a comfort zone of
plush interior and climate controlled environment, the
driver looks out at the outside world to the beat of
his favourite driving music, experiencing space as one
would experience cable television while channel
surfing, detachedly registering the news and other
images that register on the windshield only to
disappear and be replaced by others. Effortlessly,
distance is spanned and the world becomes a virtual
reality. That is the long answer and I could go on
even longer but I won’t. A shorter answer is that road
markings provide a good starting point, a parameter to
work within that provides opportunity for an almost
subliminal type of communication that has a particular
impact and that generates a dialogue that is less
likely with more blatant forms of communication like
advertising for example.

3/ do you identify with the label graffiti?

Personally, I don’t feel that what I do can, in the
strict sense of the word, be called graffiti although
I haven’t checked the definition in a dictionary
lately. For me the word graffiti conjurs up a certain
tradition, a style that is about lettering hence the
term “graffiti writer” but I could be wrong about
that. I do identify with graffiti writers in the sense
that they seem to be the main proponents of free
visual expression in the public space and therefore
are concerned with some of the same things that I am
concerned about…like not getting arrested for
example. I don’t have a problem with people calling
what I do “graffiti” and it doesn’t surprise me that
they do but “street art” or “urban art” is probably
more accurate even though these seem like pretty vague
definitions themselves. I guess people will come up
with better labels as time progresses but for now
“street art”, (and what I do is probably a more
literal interpretation of the term than most) is
probably the best description.

4/ you became very prolific in your native montreal
> and something of a
> cause celebre… could you tell me a bit about the
> legal difficulties
> you got into and the debate that developed about the
> nature of what you
> were doing and what your feelings were about it at
> the time and how you
> see it now in hindsight

The legal difficulties seemed a lot more serious after
I first got arrested than they proved to be in the end
but this probably had a lot to do with the public
support I received and a certain amount of favourable
media not to mention several individuals who went to
bat for me, particularly my lawyer Jean Phillipe
Desmarais who provided his services more or less pro
bono and a local gallerist by the name of Chris Hand
who started a “Save Roadsworth” campaign. When I first
got arrested I was mostly disappointed that the game
was over as it were and that I wouldn’t be able to
continue to execute some of the ideas I had been
thinking about. There were a few rough days where I
felt like I was in deep shit and that my life was over
but those feelings quickly subsided when I started to
realize how much support I seemed to be getting. A
debate was prompted by my arrest but it always seemed
to end in my favour despite some weak arguments about
security issues and legal precedence etc…I was
almost disappointed by the lack of opposition
(although I’m ultimately thankful for the favourable
outcome) perhaps because I was hoping for more of a
debate on the subject. I feel like a debate was
started (and it’s a debate that has come up in other
instances in the past in Montreal) but was never
really resolved, never resulted in any kind of real
change except in my personal life and career as an
artist which I am nevertheless thankful for.

5/ since the case have you continued to make work
> that is illegal in
> montreal or elsewhere?

I have not done illegal work in Montreal since my
arrest, mainly because I have had to maintain “good
conduct” until this past July as one of the conditions
of the settlement between myself and the City but I
have done elsewhere in the world since that time.

6/ the case clearly helped you to gain notoriety at
> home and abroad…
> did alot of interest and work come as result of
> that?

No doubt about it. Everybody loves a rebel.

7/ I thought your tour de france work was really
> interesting, how did
> that come about and what was the thinking behind it?

I was contacted by the curator Michael Pinsky who had
learned about me most likely on the internet because
he felt that my work fit with the theme of the project
he was coordinating entitled “The Lost O Project”
which assembled several artists from around the world.
The project was primarily organized to inaugurate the
construction of a ring road which was being
transformed from a car only road to a multi usage road
where cars, bicycles and pedestrians co-exist. The art
project also coincided with the start of the tour de
france. My contribution was a reference to the concept
of the peloton and the dynamics that govern it. As far
as I understand, cyclists move in a pack of sorts and
there is a certain amount of cooperation that goes on
within that pack even between members of rival teams.
There are certain positions within the pack that are
more vulnerable than others and that require a greater
expenditure of energy. “Drafting” for example is a
tactic that involves  one cylcist falling in behind
another thereby benefitting from a diminished wind
resistance and a phenomenon that literally draws the
cyclist along resulting in significant energy
conservation for the “drafter”.  Similar principles
seem to exist in nature whether within a school of
fish, a herd of zebra or a flock of birds which move
in groups as a means of confounding potential
predators and conserving energy among other things.  A
flock of birds seemed particularly evocative of this
notion and I liked the idea that the piece could be
experienced by moving across it at a certain speed.
The viewer, whether on a bicycle, in a bus, car or
even helicopter participates in the illusion of
movement that is created through his own movement. The
piece therefore becomes a reflection of the human
traffic that moves over it which incidentally I
believe also has an affinity to the dynamics of the
peloton or flock for e.g. The flock was also a
reflection of the environment  around Kent where many
birds can be seen darting and diving over the pastoral
landscape.

8/ are the road markings your sole output as an
> artist or just one of
> many projects?

The stuff I’ve done on the ground whether directly on
the road, in parking lots or in other public places
like parks and squares represents the bulk of what
I’ve done but I’ve also painted a few walls and have
some canvases, collages, silk-screens and other odds
and ends to my name as well. I think when you become
known for something there’s a tendancy to become
type-cast to a certain extent and in my case, I’ve
become the “asphalt specialist” or the “ground
specialist” and so I seem to get hired to do stuff of
that nature. It doesn’t bother me that much since for
me it is really just another surface although I do
like the idea of people having to walk over my work to
experience it and because there is so much asphalt in
the world there is also a lot of potential and
opportunity for doing things on a large scale. I’m
also aware that one of the reasons I do get hired is
precisely because of this particular “specialty” of
mine. I do want to try more things on different
surfaces and in different mediums however and I intend
to whether I’m paid to do so or not.

> 9/ unlike quite alot of more traditional graffiti
> there is a clear
> intelligence apparent in your work and a sense of
> progression… what
> sort of plans or ideas do you have for the future?

I have a lot of different ideas and because I’ve done
so much painting on the road and on the ground lately
I want to start trying other things, other surfaces,
other media. If I am going to do more commissioned
interventions like the ones I’ve been doing over the
past couple of years I would like to be involved more
on a design/drafting basis than as the one that
physically executes the work which can be fairly
labour intensive and less and less interesting for me.
That’s about all I can say for now.

- Everybody says that you are a gem in street art. Beside my acceptance with that view, I strongly believe that you are an important part of a political movement. You have a word to say: No car culture! What was the first painting case you did? What was the very first reason?

The first stencil I did was a bike stencil because I felt there should be more bike paths in the city especially given all of the problems associated with traffic congestion, pollution, climate change and the political and social strife associated with oil and the conflicts that it seems to bring about. As someone who’s principal means of transportation is cycling, I feel that I have the right to access all areas of the city without having to share space with vehicles that by virtue of their size, weight, speed etc..have the power to do me serious bodily harm.

- “Bike is commie” they say. In Montreal do people support you or do they think that you will deal with the police?

People support me for the most part. I have heard very little opposition to what I have done although there are some that believe that what I do is a hazard to public safety and a dangerous precedent in so far as they feel it may encourage other acts of vandalism.  My argument is that there are far graver hazards to public safety that we tolerate and even encourage on a daily basis. Car culture is one of the most blatant examples of such “normal” behavior given the problems already mentioned that are associated with oil and the procurement and use thereof not to mention the fact that in North America at least, car accidents are the second leading cause of death if you’re really concerned about safety.  The “safety” argument is brought up as an excuse to crack down on certain kinds of behavior the same way “security” has been invoked by the  U.S. administration and others throughout history as a pretense for military intervention. Graffiti is often called a serious problem when really it is just an easy target for politicians who need to look like they are ‘taking care of business” and to distract from bigger and more difficult problems. It is an easy target because it is often practised by those who aren’t old enough to vote and it is easy to make it appear as though it is being cleaned up. As far as the bike being a “commie” I think that there are those that still associate the bicycle with Maoist era China and therefore see it as a communist mode of transportation. Or maybe it’s because the car is a “capitalist” mode of transportation considering how much the car industry and the car in general has been a driving force for capitalism given its popularity and the demands it makes on natural resources. Either way, it bothers me that a lot of people seem to believe that there is either capitalism or communism and nothing in between. In my opinion, fundamentalism of any kind whether it’s political, religious or economic is dangerous. The problems of the world are as diverse as its people and therefore require a diversity of solutions, approaches etc.

- Talking of the police, what did you say when you were taken by Montreal Police in 2004? You have been through hard days i.e. house search… Do they seem more positive now?

I don’t talk to police very often but I was hired by the mayor of downtown Montreal to paint the outside of a subway station if that is any indication of the “official” attitude towards my work. When I was arrested I received a fair amount of press from local newspapers, mostly positive press and I think that politicians are generally impressed by anything that receives a certain amount of public support as they are indeed creatures of public opinion. Nowadays things are going well for me although I have not painted illegally in Montreal for a couple of years now. I had a few hard days when I first got arrested but the community support was overwhelming and made it all worthwhile.

- We had a prime minster said once “railways is a commie thing, we will make more and more highways…” Now we live in a traffic chaos in Istanbul. What is the people’s reaction for your desire to more motor bikes and bike paths?

In Montreal as in many cities I find, people like to think of themselves as “progressive” and “environmentalists” but not everyone is ready to make the sacrifices (such as not driving their car to work) that “progressive” behavior requires. Of course, the situation and infrastructure in most cities doesn’t make progressive, environmentally conscious living very easy and I think that is a shortcoming of  government to a certain extent but we also have to take responsibility as individuals for the world we live in, the governments we elect, the products we buy etc… In Canada we recently elected a Conservative government for the second time so I can relate to the attitude that certain modes of transportation could be construed as “communist”. It is an ignorant attitude that is all too common nowadays and is unfortunately reflected by many people. The funny thing about cars is that people have this view that they represent freedom but if you look at most cities during rush hour you see nothing but row upon row of cars sitting in traffic (in North America it’s mostly one person per car). The noise and pollution from this is oppressive and causes all kinds of health problems for citizens and the people stuck in traffic are generally frustrated and moving very slowly. Some may call this freedom but I call this madness. There is the attitude that to deal with traffic we must build more roads, more highways but this is a very regressive view in my opinion.

- You seem as developed a “language” with your art. Your messages have been carrying irony and caution sense. As in your statement ” In the spirit of Marcel Duchamps, all I had to do was paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa so to speak…” He was attacking the elite and hypocrisy, you seem more green compared to Duchamps. What is your main inspiration while painting? What artists do you admire?

Someone that inspired me early on was an artist by the name of Andy Goldsworthy who many might refer to as a landscape artist. I liked the way that he could alter landscapes by very economical means and I wanted to translate that idea into an urban setting. I like the idea of taking something that already exists and altering its meaning by simply adding or taking something away without obscuring the original thing. That’s what Marcel Duchamps was doing and it’s what a lot of artists, particularly street artists are doing to this day. People say that I am an environmentalist because I am critical about car culture and while this is a preoccupation of mine I think that my work addresses many issues including psychology,elitism, humour, satire, politics the list goes on. And indeed I think that car culture is interesting from many perspectives beyond the strictly environmental impact that it has.  ”Environmentalism” is a label that I feel gets abused nowadays.  To me the environment means so many things from the natural, to the urban, to the visual, the psychic. At the end of the day, without nature there is no point in talking about anything else- economy, politics, art- because we won’t be around to talk about it.

- I have heard that you are involved in both visual and musical projects. Could you give some information of them?

I am currently working on a couple of indoor visual art shows for the spring of 2009 (montreal biennal and a show in Los Angeles) and I play the keyboard in a trio that plays originals and original takes on popular cover songs.

- Motivation comes to you from a need, a decision of resistance. If such a problem would not exist, what would you paint?

There will always be problems and a need for resistance but sometimes it is good not to resist as well

- Is there a gigantic place in the world you would like to paint? Big shopping malls, skyscrapers etc…?

I’m open to almost anything.

- I’m totally fascinated by your work. Not vandalism, but it is an urgent message. Is your art something totally spontaneous or do you plan what to do?

I plan what I do in so far as I identify a location(s) and decide ahead of time what to paint but the ideas often come spontaneously so to speak.

- Montreal recalls me Godspeed You! Black Emperor, which is in a hiatus now. A silver mt Zion is also playing great kind of music. Montreal seems like a fountain of out-of-box artists. Why?

I think there are several reasons one of which is the fact that there is a relatively big appreciation for the arts in Montreal. Up until recently the rent was relatively cheap compared with the rest of Canada so the city attracted many artists. Montreal has a fairly interesting history. It is relatively close to New York city so is often a stop for touring bands and art shows but it is obviously a lot smaller than New York so it can nurture a more intimate artistic community and the standard of living is very decent…If you can stand the winter.

Chris Hand of Zeke’s gallery notified me of his correspondance with you over the past week and I felt that I should contact you in person. Thankyou for expressing interest in my work. I’m writing this response in the hopes of better understanding your interest while simultaneously clarifying some of my own feelings regarding its reception and that of visual media in general. This response is in large part influenced by what I’ve been able to learn about your company through the Saatchi and Saatchi and Publicis Group websites. In fact I will use the “messages and values” section found under the GROUP heading as a template for my response. I’m assuming that the principles outlined on the Publicis website are those shared by Saatchi and Saatchi, at least in the official sense. Please forgive the exhaustiveness of this e-mail but that’s just the kind of guy I am.

I – Added value: an imperative

Not much to say here. Who can argue with added value? I guess the trick is to define what is valuable.

II – Creativity: a passion and an obligation

Once again, I’m with you on that one. I must say, I’m impressed by the level of creativity that is demonstrated by the work I’ve seen by Saatchi and Saatchi.

III – Our commitments towards our clients.

A noble principle and one that is no doubt essential to the customer-service-at-all-costs climate that exists today. A “customer” loosely defined is an entity that seeks a service in exchange for renumeration of some kind. By that simple definition, the Nazis were customers of Coca Cola and IBM during the Second World War just as Unicef is a customer of Saatchi and Saatchi if on a pro bono basis. This is only to say that I tend to be choosey about who my customers are as I imagine is the case with Saatchi and Saatchi. Of course there are no doubt differences in the determinations for making those choices.

IV – A refusal to engage in partisan campaigns

I’m assuming this principle does not apply to the famous campaign by Saatchi and Saatchi that helped bring Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives to power as this was undertaken prior to Publicis Group’s assimilation (I’m not sure if this is the correct terminology) of Saatchi and Saatchi. The principle states, “We refuse to work for any political party, sect or organization spreading ideological propaganda.”

It is my feeling that advertising is a form of ideological propaganda in itself. What is propaganda other than trying to persuade people to engage in a certain kind of behavior, to elicit a certain kind of emotional response, to buy something? This is reflected in your own Kevin Roberts’ “Lovemarks” which I haven’t read but which strikes me as nothing more than a handbook on the art of persuasion, i.e. propaganda. This is not a revolutionary concept but its effectiveness has been proven time and time again. Political entities have used emotion and feelings of love to galvanize people since the beginning of time, wether it’s to engage in war, to unite people against a perceived threat or to bring them together in times of difficulty. Having been a product of the commercial generation myself, I am quite aware of the devices that are employed and the sophistication that is demanded to reach an increasingly sophisticated and therefore apathetic audience. My own work is a reflection of that awareness and to some degree a reaction to what I consider to be various forms of propaganda. Indeed, artists in particular are masters of propaganda insofar as implicit in their work is a desire to persuade others of a certain reality wether it is portrayed on film, television or on canvas. This is no doubt why artists are invaluable to advertising firms. Inherent in my work and in my thinking is a certain mistrust in the imagery to which I’ve been exposed my whole life, i.e. imagery that tries to persuade me to buy something, to love objects, to feel in the words of lovemark lingo, “like (I) can’t live without something” (when in fact I really can.)The idea of the “inspirational consumer” sounds like nothing more than yet another ploy to get an increasingly apathetic public to buy. While inspiring people to consume may be a company’s perrogative, I don’t feel that it is one that society necessarily needs as a whole. Raising consumerism to the level of the sublime and imbuing it with emotion akin to love is precisely what irks me the most about most car commercials that I’ve seen lately for example. All this to say that if I am to apply my “propagandistic” abilities, it must be at the service of something or some product I believe in or that I think I believe in. Not to question the integrity of Kevin Roberts for example who I imagine has a certain belief in consumerism on some level and perhaps its ultimate and/or inevitable contribution to human progress. The corporate body by virtue of its relatively massive holdings is to a certain extent the present day state and the advertising firm by extension is its ministry of propaganda. To deny the power and influence that corporations have over civil society and global policy decisions is simply naive. That is not to say that corporations are necessarily evil and judging by Publicis Group’s declaration on Corporate Responsibility, there is a genuine awareness and desire to represent in a positive manner. This is a desire that I share in regards to my own representation and impact.

VI – Commitments towards personnel

Once again, a noble commitment and one that I’m sure you can appreciate.

VII – Commitments towards shareholders

“The ultimate aim of any company is to generate profit. Thus we have a duty to be profitable. Profit, in itself, is not only something that should not be criticized, it also actually forms part of our obligations.”

I agree that there is nothing inherently wrong with trying to generate profit. It is wonderful and obviously necessary to gain profit through one’s work, especially if it is work one enjoys. Contrary to Publicis Group and therefore, I assume, Saatchi and Saatchi however, this is not my ultimate aim. If it were, I would definitely not be an artist and musician.

VIII – Commitments towards our suppliers

“The choice of these partners must be exclusively guided by a desire to ensure that Publicis obtains the best service at the most favourable market price. Any other consideration should be eliminated.”

Who doesn’t want things at the best price? Of course it is the best market price that governs the world economy and is also partly responsible for the existence of child labour for example which Saatchi and Saatchi recently condemned in a recent advertisement for Unicef. To say that “any other consideration should be eliminated” contradicts the supposed next principle…

XIII – Obligations to the community

“Among its objectives are to contribute to the improvement of the human environment, and to manage its business in the context of sustainable growth, while respecting key values in the context of our ethics and sense of responsibility.” Although I personally believe that sustainable growth and the improvement of the human environment are in the long run synonymous with a healthy economy I don’t think that this applies in the context of obtaining “the most favourable market price.” At least not in terms of our present day economic structure. Despite these questions, I do acknowledge the commitment made by Publicis Group and/or Saatchi and Saatchi to contribute to the human environment in the context of its pro bono work towards various humanitarian causes as well as its participation in the Global Compact and the Global Fund.

I’ve responded in this comprehensive manner to hopefully give you an idea of where I’m coming from and also in the hopes of gaining a better understanding of how and why my work interests you and in what context you feel it would be useful. I hesitate to send high- resolution images of my work as I have read the legal disclaimer on Bob Isherwood’s site that does not seem to guarantee me any kind of intellectual property rights.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Saatchi and Saatchi appreciates your interest if you decide to send us an idea. Please note that submitting an idea to us does not confirm your ownership of any intellectual property inherent in the idea. Additionally, neither your submission nor our posting of an idea should be construed as creating any commitments or obligations between you and us. Submission of an idea does not entitle you to any payment for the idea itself or for its usage in any manner by Saatchi & Saatchi, its clients or any third party. Whenever possible, Saatchi & Saatchi will acknowledge authorship of the idea but can accept no responsibility in cases where this does not happen.

Of course my work is by nature very public and examples of it can be easily accessed via the Internet. I do appreciate that you took the time to contact me in order to inform me of your interest. If you’ve managed to get this far in my e-mail (congratulations if you have) and wish to respond, I would like to know in more detail what you had in mind for the images of my work and in what context you would like to present them. As you may have guessed, I am somewhat choosey about how and to what end my work is used especially when it is being presented out of context. Sincerely, Roadsworth

hey Wooster, this is old news as far as the select world of Montreal street art is concerned but another example of the appropriation of “urban kool” (not to be confused with cool with a “c”) by the “establishment” for the delectation of the elite. The establishment in question is the CCA (center for canadian architecture) which, in keeping with a recent exhibition entitled something like “Sense of the City” hired some of Montreal’s more notorious art gangsters (myself included) to paint a massive 100 foot long canvas as part of this year’s annual fundraising dinner.  In attendance were such famous Montreal families as the Bronfmans (actually, these people were underground before we even had a name for it, their fortune  amassed by illegally running booze across the border to you yanks during Prohibition) and the Bombardiers who build trains, planes and ski-doos. Assembled by the equally notorious Pablo Aravena the team consisted of such paint slingers as TCHUG, DSTRBO, TURF ONE, LABRONA and OTHER.  I also painted a massive sewer with crocodiles coming out of it at the center of the banquet area which served as a dance floor for a troupe of “urban dancers” (they even had a black guy with dreds) and for the dinner guests when the champagne went to their hips. When all was said and done the mural was divided into little foot by foot squares that were auctioned off to the guests. A mob of tuxedoes and chiffon crowded the canvas when it came time to claiming their party favours giving us a heady if only momentary and illusory sense of stardom (artists can be such suckers for that kind of attention.) For a second there, I thought that I’d arrived. Never mind that were given box lunches for dinner and had to wait 2 hours before we got our first beer. One thing about people with money is that they have an appreciation for the concept of artificially inflated value on which the art world (and many other worlds for that matter) rely.
On another note, as part of my debt to society and in the context of 40 hours of community service, I completed a mural on the ground ( I guess that would be called a “flooral”) of a school yard in the context of another fundraiser, this time to raise money for the re-landscaping of that very same school yard. Also just completed a “virtual lego construction” with the help of Urban Ambush’s 2YOUTH and KSILK entitled “Legoisme” outside of the Place D’Armes Metro Station here in Montreal as part of a commission by the Mayor of the Burrough of Ville-Marie. Why do people keep asking me if I feel like “I’ve sold out?” (by people I mean mainly media types) Oh yeah, I forgot, artists are supposed to be poor miserable wretches their whole lives until they die of Syphilis and then their work gets put on coffee mugs and place mats. Wait until I start doing car commercials and then I’ll let you know if my sell-out reflex starts a’ twitching.

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Dead Hearts Video – Stars

Fragile

Crossing the Line Trailer