Man says tree stunt that blocked traffic was performance art

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

Asher Woodworth told 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 Monday. He was arrested on a charge of 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 said Woodworth can sometimes "get into trouble in funny ways but never in malicious ways."

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