Editor’s note: U Live and You Burn agreed to be interviewed with the condition that his identity be limited to his screen name.

UPDATE: The creator of Hillsborough Street’s “Barrel Monster” was arrested last week, according to WRAL.com.

Joseph Carnevale, a junior in history, is accused of larceny for taking construction materials to create the sculpture on HIllsborough Street.

Look for more updates at technicianonline.com.

He has done everything from climb a cable to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge in the middle of the night to hop freight trains in Apex, armed with nothing but an old Nikon and some climbing equipment. He is local thrill seeker and graffiti artist U Live and You Burn – the alias was taken from an Alkaline Trio song years ago – and he keeps a blog of his exploits at nopromiseofsafety.com.

“I’ve always been creative artistically, and lately I’ve come to really not like rules,” U Live and You Burn said. “So I try and break them at every opportunity.”

N.C. State students may be familiar with his work. Recently, he drew the captivation of summer campus-dwellers and the ire of law enforcement after he “borrowed” several traffic barrels from the construction area on Hillsborough Street and put them together to create an angry orange barrel man that directs traffic with a severely pointed finger.

U Live and You Burn said the Barrel Monster wasn’t planned. Like most of his artwork, the idea came to him suddenly, and he couldn’t shake it.

“It popped into my head in class the morning before I did it,” he said. “Sometimes when you get an idea in your head, you can’t let it go.”

“I kidnapped a couple of barrels – a few at a time because they’re really big – brought them back to my place, laid them out in my living room. My roommate was sitting there shaking his head at me because he knows I’m an idiot. I cut them up, using screws this time rather than duct tape because it doesn’t hold as well as you’d like.”

One of his previous traffic cone creations, a giant lizard, wouldn’t fit in the trunk of his car.

“That thing involved many large pieces,” he said. “I drove to campus with it strapped to the roof of my car, which was a little conspicuous.”

This time, he brought the Barrel Monster to campus in several pieces and assembled it in a ditch beside Caldwell Hall before dragging it up into the street.

Previously, U Live and You Burn was best known for his Angry Man painting on the side of a hopper next to the Boylan Bridge in downtown Raleigh. That mural earned him 1600 hits to his site and New Raleigh featured it in a story on its website. The Barrel Monster, however, is quickly becoming his most searched work. He received over a thousand hits in one day.

“I guess when you create something that people like, this is what’s going to happen,” U Live and You Burn said.

He said he creates his art whenever the inspiration strikes and places or paints them on his own schedule. Though what he does is often illegal, he is not concerned enough with being caught to resort to painting in early morning hours.

“Both times, with the Angry Man and the Barrel Monster, I actually had people watching me do it,” U Live and You Burn said. “They didn’t try and stop me or call the cops or anything. Most people like it, so they don’t give me any trouble.”

U Live and You Burn is also a part of a global community of individuals that call themselves “Urban Explorers,” a group known more for their love of adventure and photography skills than their law-abiding natures. U Live and You Burn described Urban Explorers’ pursuits as “physically exploring places that are off limits to the general public, whether it be abandoned buildings, storm drains, rooftops, elevator shafts, basically anywhere there’s a no trespassing sign. You go there just for the sake of seeing and experiencing it.”

However, one of Raleigh’s more active members realizes that his artwork goes against several of the principles of the Urban Explorers.

“The mainstream Urban Exploration community doesn’t like to vandalize stuff,” U Live and You Burn said. “They have adopted the Sierra Club philosophy of ‘take only pictures, leave only footprints.’ But in every community, there are people with differing opinions. They’re two separate things for me, Urban Exploration and graffiti.”

Many do not condone what U Live and You Burn does. His comment box is littered with angry messages from concerned citizens and fellow Urban Explorers.

“You are a freaking idiot that will soon die from a fall,” one wrote.

“Where I come from we tar and feather this kind of behavior. The first time I get arrested because of heightened security due to this ass hat, I’m going to be highly pissed,” another admonished.

U Live and You Burn said he understands the repercussions of what he does.

“They have a point – I am costing people money,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and say it’s perfectly okay. That’s part of graffiti and street art – vandalism.”

When asked about the difference between art and vandalism, he admitted it was a blurred line.

“I guess it depends on how many people like it and how much time you put into it,” he said. “That’s the difference between scrawling your name on a wall and a real nice graffiti piece, or an angry man made out of construction barrels. Effort makes a difference.”

As expected, the Barrel Monster has now also fallen prey to Raleigh law enforcement. Traffic barrels can be pricey, and the ones that are still intact have gone back to their intended use. The Angry Man was washed off the tower the morning after U Live and You Burn painted it, so he is no stranger to seeing his work destroyed.

“I always know it’s going to come down,” he said. “Sometimes I hope it will stay up a little longer than it does, but that’s part of it.”