Joe Carnevale, a senior in history and the creator of the now-infamous Barrel Monster sculpture on Hillsborough Street, has come a long way since last summer. Far from distancing himself from the police, he now has the respect and gratitude of charity groups and local businesses.
Instead of snatching traffic barrels off the street and throwing them into the back of his car, Carnevale received dozens of recycled street signs and used them to create a “Street Knight” at on a corner of Cameron Village in honor of Earth Day Saturday while curious shoppers and a few fans wandered by.
“It’s easier,” Carnevale admitted. “It’s less fun. The first three or four nights of going around and cutting down signs would have been fun, but I would have had to do a lot of it. And I don’t have to worry about the Raleigh Police Department coming after me again.”
Carnevale prepared parts of the knight at home but assembled the piece in three hours, mostly through what he called “winging it.” He didn’t sketch out the piece, preferring instead to measure it up visually.
Carnevale, who calls himself a “dime store celebrity” since finding fame for his street art last year, has since stopped creating Barrel Monsters.
“I did like six barrel monsters and got sick of it,” Carnevale said. “I think everyone else got sick of it, too.”
Pat Hunnell, an independent public relations consultant contracted by Cameron Village for its Earth Day celebrations, remembered Carnevale’s work and looked him up on the Internet.
“We met and had lunch. I asked him if he would consider being involved and he said yes,” Hunnell said. “He saw it as a way to create this piece of art that he’d been considering but hadn’t moved forward with because he didn’t have the materials. He was excited to put his vision to life.”
Carnevale envisioned the work being constructed from cautionary road signs. Hunnell called around and couldn’t find a supplier of traffic signs, but found a company that was willing to donate the street signs.
Hunnell said it turned out better than she imagined.
“He has a marvelous eye and sees these things,” Hunnell said. “I’m completely fascinated.”
The sculpture will stand in Cameron Village for two weeks. If it doesn’t become a permanent fixture there, Carnevale plans to sell it to a local gallery.
Though he now has a public stamp of approval for his work, Carnevale said he isn’t going soft.
“I consider selling out to be when you let the fact that you’re getting paid for it influence what you’re making,” Carnevale said. “I already had this idea to begin with. If they had come to me and said ‘this knight is a little too violent. We want something more subtle,’ I would have taken it somewhere else.”
After Carnevale completed the Street Knight, he lent his services to the Scrap to Sculpture contest, which was open to thrifty high school and college students around the Triangle.
Each contestant received a $100 gift card to the Scrap Exchange to gather materials and create an original piece. Not surprisingly, most artists opted to pursue a theme in honor of Earth Day.
Laura Maruzzella, a senior in art and design at N.C. State, helped students from Green Hope High School and the Washington Boys and Girls Club create a bucket full of brightly colored flowers. Their sculpture took first place and won the club $1,000.
“We went to the scrap exchange and bought vinyl records [to make the flowers],” Maruzzella said. “I boiled them ahead of time and brought them to the Boys and Girls Club to arrange as flowers. We made a little garden.”
Maruzzella heard about the contest from her boss, who she said always informs her of community art contests and projects. Maruzzella, who was a week removed from debuting her line at the Art to Wear fashion show, launched right into her next project. She still had paint on her hands when the judges inspected her club’s piece.
“[The Boys and Girls club] painted the flowers and stems,” Maruzzella said. “They brought it to life.”
Second place went to Duke University student Jason Tian, who created a piece using an old lampshade, window blinds and a crown made from Christmas tinsel. His sculpture, called “Rags to Royalty,” was vandalized in the days leading up to the judging. The artwork itself was kicked over and the chains around it were moved to another part of the shopping center. Tian held the sculpture together while he explained the inspiration behind his work.
Third place and $500 went to two State students: Elina Inkiläinen, a graduate student in forestry, and Brunell Gugelman, a graduate student in natural resources. They created an aluminum tree with leaves made from plastic bottles and flowers made from pieces of soda cans.
Pat Boyle, marketing director for Cameron Village who arranged Scrap to Sculpture, Carnevale and a representative from LeChase Construction Services judged the contest. Boyle said Cameron Village planned to host the contest again next year and said it hoped for better student turnout.
“I talked to a few professors [at N.C. State] and they said the timing was bad because of finals,” Boyle said. “But we can’t change Earth Day. It’s got to be this time.”
