The Barrel Monster of North Carolina

So, this is pretty rad. It’s a piece of “public art” by a North Carolina artist named Joseph Carnevale who noticed that lonely side of the road in the construction zone, saw the world as his blank canvas, and thought it would be nice to put a few smiles on the commuters stuck in traffic. As such, he went over to the local construction yard, “borrowed” a few of their materials, and put together the above cartoonish haunter of dreams. As you’d imagine, Carnevale is being praised by the North Carolina government for creating such a thing of odd beauty for the good of the public. Just kidding. Dude got arrested.

Take it away, Smoking Gun:

Carnevale, was charged with misdemeanor larceny for allegedly building his orange from materials pilfered from a construction site. According to an arrest warrant, Carnevale “destroyed three road blocking barrels by cutting and screwing them together to form a statue.” Police estimated that Carnevale’s artwork caused $360 in damages to Hamlett Associates, the North Carolina construction company that owned the barrels. Carnevale is scheduled for a July 21 court appearance in Wake County.

While I get the point that Carnevale should get some kind of punishment – he did steal material from a company, after all – if this gets him any more than a slap on the wrist, someone’s doing something wrong. After all, the above barrel is really the only reason to visit North Carolina, ever.