With a name like Roadsworth, you could easily guess that this isn't any ordinary street artist. Though born Peter Gibson, he chose the name Roadsworth because, as he states, "Where Wordsworth is a poet of words, Roadsworth is a poet of roads."
Though he started painting on the streets as a form of activism (for more bike paths), his motivation later evolved into a more personal one. It became his alternative form of expression, a creative outlet if you will. Currently his works all have an aspect of protest in them, a way for Roadsworth to comment on today's social issues or, as he says, "simply protest against the mundaneness of the urban landscape."
"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." 23 more images after the break...
0 comments:
Post a Comment