A man arrested for blocking traffic in the US state of Maine while dressed as an evergreen tree said 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 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.

He was arrested for obstructing traffic when he failed to heed a warning by police officers. He was released on $60 bail.

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