Who is swampy artist

He has no website, no bio, and no paper trail, which may stem from his work as a graffiti artist, but he does have a new exhibition at the Chandran Gallery in San Francisco which runs through August 8th, Swampy is an elusive artist with a preference for anonymity. Even so, he has developed a cult following that is fascinated by his multidimensional work as much as by his enigmatic identity. I made these photographs on a trip across North America from Mexico to Alaska during the fall of to the summer of Most of the distance was traveled by freight train, some by highway and four days by barge.

I became fascinated by freight travel while exploring the U. The allure of traveling by train initially came from the absence of a price tag, but the sense of solitude that I discovered once I started riding is why I continue a decade later. The railway strikes out a different path across the landscape than roads and highways, and there is a calm to the environment surrounding the tracks.

As an alternate passageway, it lacks the stress of being corralled by commerce and advertisements like on the streets and highways where capitalism anticipates people will accumulate. Watching product get picked up in one city and delivered in another, unbeknownst to the ones behind the wheel, the train rider is delivered along with it. In contrast, riding trains in Mexico is a group experience. You sometimes share the top of a railcar with 10 or more strangers, riding through desert, jungle, and city centers.

At the same time, contemporary art has helped me realize that I can get away with doing what I love. Funny you should put it like that; some musicians are infamous for only listening to their own music.

On another note, are you able to live off your art, or your Web store? How much of your travel is done for free? Almost all of my travel is done entirely for free. I live in a squat and I ride freight trains; all I need cash for is bus fare to and from the train yard. Then I headed up the coast and into Canada before riding a freight barge across the gulf into Alaska. I had ideas of turning the photos into a book while I was in British Columbia, but it was not the purpose of the trip.

Everyone else can assume it means No Big Deal. What is your most memorable experience from the trip? The batter hit a pop fly in the direction of the train, and I dramatically pretended to catch the ball. Papers Please , Wallflowers. Papers Please , Dont forget to write. Papers Please , Public Provocations I.

Papers Please , Corners Off Society.