art + artists | street art

I'll be writing more and posting more pictures of Roadsworth and the work of Peter Gibson later today when I get the chance. He's been interviewed on Zeke's Place and there are video clips about Roadsworths' work at Citizen Shift.
     If anyone knows this guy, please send me a way to contact him. I have a more extensive set of photos for him taken from the upper floors of Hotel Gouverneuer, Place DuPuis.
     A write up about the chess squares was on Le Devoir.Com [Or... read an English Translation]

UPDATE 4 June 2007: Got an e-mail from Mr. Gibson who made the following observations about

"...the whole pawn takes bishop thing is a subtle commentary on Quebequois history which underwent as you probably know (are you Canadian, American, Quebecois?) a fairly abrupt "regime change" at one point, going from an extremely Catholic society, where the church had a huge influence on people to becoming the most secular (by statistical standards
anyway) province in Canada.
     The pawn I guess represents the individual, the bishop the church and the hand the larger forces of economy, capitalism etc...similar "power plays/shifts" are taking place today but with different "pieces" or players. It's an historical point that I feel is a defining aspect of Quebecois society to this
day.
     I think the fact that we refer to Place Emilie-Gamelin as Berri Square is indicative of that. You've ...noticed as I did the irony that the Square is now home to a fairly significant itinerant population while the trend at the municipal level seems to be one of pushing these people out- and on or near the location where the good Emilie dispensed alms and support to the poor nonetheless..."

The Digital Cities Project has an intriguiging brief piece on La Place Emilie Gamelin that recounts the square's history, going back to when the Sisters of Providence operated a soup kitchen, a pharmacy and hospital for the poor, and a home for impoverished elder women at the site. It burned down in 1963.