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.