Why Artists Are Doing It In The Road: Special Report

They are hardly the ideal conditions in which to create. Danger is a constant menace, and it comes in multiple guises. Industrial injury is the main threat, as is the risk of arrest. Other hazards include deafness, breathing polluted air and the looming shadow of public discontent. The tools and materials used in this form of installation - power drill, tarmac and steamroller - are expensive. And the work cannot be sold. But despite these powerful deterrents, there are clandestine groups of vagabond practitioners who will stop at nothing to get their work into the public sphere. You may not know you know it, but you’ve certainly seen it. They call it, quite simply, road art.

They are hardly the ideal conditions in which to create. Danger is a constant menace, and it comes in multiple guises. Industrial injury is the main threat, as is the risk of arrest. Other hazards include deafness, breathing polluted air and the looming shadow of public discontent. The tools and materials used in this form of installation - power drill, tarmac and steamroller - are expensive. And the work cannot be sold. But despite these powerful deterrents, there are clandestine groups of vagabond practitioners who will stop at nothing to get their work into the public sphere. You may not know you know it, but you’ve certainly seen it. They call it, quite simply, road art.