ROADSWORTH

STATEMENT

In the fall of 2001 I began painting bicycle symbols around the streets of Montreal, mimicking those that are used to designate the city‘s bike paths. Being a cyclist myself and having spent a lifetime sharing the road with people who by virtue of their steel, glass and rubber carapace had the power to do me seriously bodily harm (and almost did on several occasions) I felt that it was time the cyclist be given his fair share of the public pie. After all, politicians have been encouraging us for years and presumably at the public‘s behest to adopt alternative modes of transportation as a palliative to the numerous ills associated with congestion, smog and green house gasses. I had been hearing this line of "encouragement" since I was young enough to comprehend "adult-speak" and I‘m sure it was being spouted long before. However, I had to date, found little encouragement in breathing car exhaust, having to share the road with eighteen wheelers and the prospect of receiving the dreaded "door prize"(having a car door opened in your face) except maybe the existence of a few recreational bike paths and ones own state of poverty. Same for a perpetually under-funded public transportation system that, bogged down by the overall level of traffic congestion seemed to take longer and be more crowded than ever. Maybe this is the incentive for cycling that was being referred to.

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