Visual artist Sergio Garzon continues his foray into Hawaii’s performing arts community by taking an oversized approach to printmaking. The method requires a carved woodblock, no smaller than 4 feet by 4 feet, and a construction roller that displaces at least 10 tons of pressure per square inch.

"Using steam rollers (as a form of printing) is such a ludicrous idea, but people love it," Garzon said.

Fearing that performance art was losing momentum in Hono­lulu’s art district, Garzon said he thought it was the perfect time to roll out the second year of the extra large art project, "Print Bigger: Growing our Own."

"I thought, what a great time to get a bunch of people together and do something crazy," he said.

So on March 1, as part of Chinatown’s monthly First Friday event, Garzon and 10 other artists and artist teams took to the streets, specifically North Hotel Street, to print their woodblocks. For three hours, the road was off limits to cars as they printed their supersized work with a construction asphalt steamroller.

"It was such a neat concept: to print using construction equipment," said Betsy Wilson, owner and president of Alakona Corp., the asphalt pavement company that donated the equipment and operator for the event.

"The artwork is beautiful and they did such a terrific job making it interactive," she added.

The prints paper the walls of the ARTS at Marks Garage until April 5. While this is only the second show of its kind in Hawaii — the first one, also involving Garzon, was done at the Honolulu Museum of Art in August — the artist says this type of printmaking is popular in his home country of Colombia.

"I wanted to do a community event, not just a show that involved hanging art in a gallery," he said. "When I came to Hawaii (two years ago), I didn’t see a lot of performing arts, so I felt that I needed to do my part in creating more of it, and this type of show gets everyone involved with the vibe of art-making."

The concept wasn’t simply about getting more people involved with printmaking, but also to create more transparency within the arts, Garzon said.

"I wanted to break down the barriers between the studio and gallery artists because (art) is a particularly solitary craft, and take the process to the public in the streets for everyone to engage in," he said.

In November, Garzon began planning the project collaboratively with the Hawaii Academy of Performing Arts, Chinatown Artists Lofts and the ARTS at Marks Garage. Then he put out a call to artists.

The 10 solo artists and teams carved images that reflected their interpretation of the theme, "Growing Our Own." On the day of the printing on Hotel Street, the blocks were inked about six hours before being pressed onto paper by the construction roller.

"The awesome thing about this was that you could get a lot of printing done in a short amount of time," said artist Sonny Ganaden, one of the participants. "What took two months to create only took 30 seconds to print."

More than 300 people lined the street to watch the live art show.

"Performance is about creating and displaying art, and that’s what we’re doing with this project," Garzon said. "We need to get the arts out of the gallery in order to inspire and educate."

The closing reception for the exhibit will be on April 5, the next First Friday event. Garzon will then move the show to another Chinatown venue, the Ong King Art Center.