Roadsworth

A stark, primitive bicycle, looking suspiciously like the one the city used to designate a bike path; a giant zipper, pulling asphalt open on a busy commuter route; a giant's footprint, left behind after stomping through the sleeping city. By 2004, Roadsworth had pulled off close to 300 pieces of urban art on the streets of Montreal. Where would the nocturnal street artist strike next? Nowhere -- or so it seemed. In the fall, he was charged with 51 counts of public mischief. Then the citizens of Montreal rallied their support. A year later he was let off with a slap on the wrist. Since then, Roadsworth has continued to intervene in public spaces. He now travels the world, executing commissioned work for Cirque du Soleil and The Last O (cycled over in the Tour de France), and for cities, galleries, public institutions and arts festivals. In his brilliantly inventive art, Roadsworth takes the urban landscape and turns its constituent elements on their heads, both indicting our culture's excesses and celebrating what makes us human (lest we forget).