PORTLAND — A man arrested for blocking traffic in Maine while dressed as an evergreen tree says the public display was intended to be performance art.

Asher Woodworth tells the Portland Press Herald his embodiment of a tree inching across a busy downtown Portland intersection was designed to reflect a contrast in the “energies of economy and efficiency and the energies of slowness and magic.”

The 30-year-old apparently moved too slowly across the street on Monday. He was arrested for obstructing traffic when he failed to heed a warning by police officers. He was released on $60 bail.

Friend Hamilton Poe knew Woodworth at Bennington College in Vermont and says Woodworth can sometimes “get into trouble in funny ways but never in malicious ways.”

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or to participate in the conversation. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under:
Portland
Related Stories
Latest Articles