Art on the road fails to appeal to Montreal
officialdom (Monday 7 March 2005 #2)
compiled by Claire Flannery
Breach of public security is the official
explanation for the recent arrest of a Montreal stencil artist,
currently facing criminal charges and a possible fine of 265,000
Canadian dollars. Peter Gibson (whose identity was unknown prior
to the arrest), a.k.a Roadsworth, began his nocturnal artform
(working in the sleepy hours before dawn in order to avoid prying
eyes) over three years ago by stencilling cyclist symbols on
the roads of Montreal. This visual protest against the lack
of bike paths and lanes encapsulated the two main concerns in
Roadsworth's art: a keen environmental awareness and a play
for public space, and thus the incitement of social dialogue.
What could be more functional than a road
marking? For Gibson (his anonymous alias effectively defunct),
the banality and utilitarian symbols of the street were crying
out for a little poetry. Despite Gibson's rather flippant musings
concerning his work - when asked to describe his work: "What
would happen if the guys who are hired by the city to paint
the lines on the street decided to drop acid?" - it is
undeniable that he is inspired and driven by an almost vocational
force.
Gibson, unlike many stencil artists who use
the street merely as their canvas, endeavoured to interweave
and integrate his designs in and around the existing road markings.
Gibson's predetermined designs are made with a particular location
in mind. Gibson also uses the same colour and type of paint
as official infrastructural markers. The deliberate effect is
a witty artistic dialogue with the mundane everyday world.
Even though the artist was previously anonymous,
his work was well known to residents of Montreal. A considerable
number of people were very surprised upon learning that the
artist was a supposed perpetrator, and not as they previously
assumed commisioned by city officials to share his art. The
reality is, public space is now commercial space or at least
potential commercial space, as of yet un-bought, unclaimed..
Gibson's art is, in some humble way, reclaiming public space
for the public, for himself and for us.
 |
Peter Gibson/Roadsworth: Montreal
Street Art; image held
here |
Interaction with the physical world is one
of the features of the established genre of land art. Gibson
himself cites, as his major influences, Cristo (though for some
unknown reason not Jeanne-Claude, Cristo's partner) and Andy
Goldsworthy, two of the most highly acclaimed land artists.
Although Gibson's pseudonym (Roadsworth) was partly inspired
by his self-affiliation with the latter, his art seems to have
more in common with that of the former (and his partner!). Cristo
and Jeanne-Claude's most recent work, currently on show / installed
in Central Park, New York, was entirely financed by the artists
themselves by selling the preparatory studies, refusing sponsorship
or donations. The merchandising rights of all their work are
donated to charitable organisations. Pat on the back is indeed
in order!
 |
Jeanne-Claude and Cristo: The Gates,
Cental Park, New York; image held here |
Chris Hand, Director of Zeke's Gallery, Montreal,
has started a campaign to raise public support and pressure
on the police to drop the charges. The campaign and the barage
of media coverage have resulted in noteriety and a lot of tempting
offers for commisions for the formerly anonymous and unpaid
crusader. So it would seem that the outed Roadsworth is (please
pardon the pun) at a crossroads in his artistic career. Will
we soon be greeted with website advertisements such as "Peter
Gibson in commercial galleries and auction houses" as I
was whilst researching Andy Goldsworthy?
On the subject of searching and researching,
my findings for street art in Ireland on the web were pathetically
sparse, useless and uninteresting. One of the few I came across
(here)
remarked on the principal method of Irish graffiti, namely the
alteration of existing text. The example given is the alteration
of a 'NO TRAILERS' sign in Galway to 'NO TRAVLERS'. The author
of the website proposes that this may have been a wry statement
on the underlying racism of the original message. But is he
/ she giving the act a little too much credit? However, I am
sure that there are many worthy street artists in Ireland; unfortunately
it may take a fate similar to that of Peter Gibson for the public
to conciously recognise them and their work.
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Do you have an opinion on this article? If so, please click
| Responses so far |
| Comment 1 |
Thanks for noticing my page
http://www.geocities.com/stevenedw/graffiti.html. I had to
review the piece, because on reflection I think that you're
correct; I gave the artist too much credit. In reality the
NO TRAILERS / NO TRAVLERS text alteration--however
brilliant its use of the synchronicity of language and
custom--is purely racist in nature.
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