WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) and the university’s Diggs Gallery are working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the City of Winston-Salem to present the work of Canadian street artist Roadsworth.
He is the sixth artist in SECCA’s year-long public art program Inside Out: Artists in the Community II, and will be taking the inspiration for his paintings from streets and crosswalks on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and the WSSU campus. This project will be the latest in an international series of street paintings in which the artist critiques car culture and reinvigorates the pedestrian experience by altering existing street markings to create a humorous array of signs, images and symbols.
He employs a visual language of satire to poke fun at generic signage and society’s reverence of the automobile. Seeking curiosity rather than confrontation, his street paintings interact with existing street markings, sewers and civic wayfinding signage (i.e. crosswalks).
Using a combination of hand-cut stencils, water-based paint, brushes and rollers, he creates unexpected moments of delight on streets dampened by utility and ubiquity. Simply put, Roadsworth paints images of amusement and relief in a world of lines, laws and instructions – reinventing the language of the street and re-imagining the ways we navigate the city.
“Winston-Salem State is delighted to work with SECCA on this project that I’m sure will create some lively discussions,” said Dr. Brenda Allen, WSSU Provost. “Given the attachment most of us have to our automobiles as a means of transportation, this presentation should be interesting and amusing.
“Beyond the public art aspect of Roadsworth’s work, we are excited about the student involvement that is a part of his efforts on our campus” Allen added. “Students will be able to meet the artist and watch him work. Our Fine Arts Department also will have classes developed around these street paintings and is planning a show of students’ art work as well.”
On the campus of WSSU, Roadsworth will present a series of street paintings that collectively fashion a path/walk between the Anderson Center and the Diggs Gallery. Striped dividers will turn into hatched shoelaces in the Anderson Center parking lot to amplify the presence of “foot-powered” transportation; the gentle slope of old MLK Drive will become a waterway emptying into an oversized “drain” at the bottom of its course; a brick crosswalk transforms into a pixilated scene from the iconic, traffic-dodging video game Frogger; and Diggs Gallery – will be fed with an oversized fuel can.
This path will be bridged by three crosswalk designs the artist will create using existing markings on MLK Jr. Drive. Dominos speak to the precariousness of the pedestrian path across MLK; the Treadmill/Conveyor Belt alludes to the mechanization and acceleration of exercise and urban life; and the Screw penetrates sidewalks and the newly constructed median on MLK to promote the narrowing of the street – symbolically bringing two sides of the campus closer together by condensing dangerous traffic through the corridor.
Roadsworth’s career began on the streets of Montreal in 2001, when he initiated an unsanctioned campaign of “pedestrian street art.” Without city permission or gallery sponsorship, he worked quickly during the night to alter pre-existing markings. Street lanes became heart rate monitors, electrical wires and zippers, safety pins and shoeprints. Citizens looked on with amusement, even as criminal charges began to accumulate.
All these events came to a head in 2004 when Roadsworth was arrested and brought to trial on 53 counts of mischief and vandalism. The trial with its media storm of coverage led to a transformative moment in the history of public art, when a groundswell of civic support led to a significantly reduced penalty and Roadsworth’s launch into international anti-hero status.
This project is supported by a grant from The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County and by a program grant provided by the James G. Hanes Foundation. In-kind support is provided by Sundance Plaza Hotel, Spa and Wellness Center, 3M, Moore’s Self Storage and Hanesbrands Inc. SECCA’s Community Day held in conjunction with this event was sponsored by Target.
SECCA is designed to involve audiences in the art of our time. SECCA is an operating entity of the North Carolina Museum of Art, an agency of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. SECCA is also a funded partner of The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.