Train Hopping: Looks like art is a changing, this one is fun

Chandran Gallery Presents
NBD
Solo Exhibition and Book Release by Swampy

Enigmatic Artist Resurfaces With Images Documenting A Year Train Hopping Across the Continent
on the North American Criminal Roller Coaster

(l) Safe In My Cave  and (r)  Aguascalientes, 2015
Chromogenic color print, edition of 10, 30 x 30 in.
 

Exhibition Dates: July 25 - Aug 08, 2015
Opening Reception: Sat, July 25, 2015 - 7-10pm
 

SAN FRANCISCO — July 16, 2015 — Chandran Gallery is pleased to present NBD, a solo exhibition and book release by Oakland-based artist, Swampy. The exhibition is comprised of select images from the book presented in large-scale, 30”x30”, c-prints, each in an edition of 10. A screening of  Swampy’s video diary on his summer travels will be shown at the opening reception. The exhibition is on view July 25 to August 08, 2015 with an opening reception on Saturday, July 25 from 7 - 10pm.  The artist will be in attendance.
 

NBD is a collection of photographs detailing the artist’s travels, primarily train hopping, across North America from Mexico to Alaska during the fall of 2010 to the summer of 2011. The images take us inside the hobo culture that treads the line of fugitive and idyllic. Traditionally, train hoppers leave their mark denoting the direction they are headed, for instance EBD for eastbound or BW for westbound. Swampy’s tag was NBD for his northbound journey.
 

Cited as one of the most influential graffiti artists today, Swampy strikes a marked departure from his prolific street work with NBD. The images show us quiet observations of the communities, strangers and provocateurs that the artist encounters in his travels. As the images take us across the continent, we see the underbelly of a transient culture while also encountering the sublime landscapes and adventure in which the tracks take them. In the book’s introduction Swampy tells us:
 

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.
 

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 like disappearing”, a phrase often peppering his work, is a regular practice for the artist. Following Swampy’s 2011 sold-out debut solo show at FIFTY24SF Gallery, the artist vanished off the grid. In his sporadic resurfacings, the artist has collaborated with Paper Monster and has been featured in The New York Times T Magazine, Complex, Juxtapoz and The San Francisco Chronicle.
 

About Chandran Gallery

Chandran Gallery was established in 2013 and presents a contemporary program exhibiting established, mid-career and emerging artists to a worldwide audience. The gallery supports artists in transcending boundaries of discipline and presentation. This dedication has resulted in successful collaborations with recognized artists including Swoon, Monica Canilao and Mary Iverson, and high profile events including the Beach House at the Shore Club and AMNIOTIC at Loews Hotel in association with Art Basel Miami Beach. The gallery will have its inaugural opening in September 2015 in its newly built space in the Union Square district of San Francisco.
www.chandrangallery.com
 

Calendar Editors:
What:    NBD Solo Exhibition and Book Release by Swampy

When:   Exhibition Dates: July 25 - Aug 08, 2015  
Opening Reception: Sat, July 25, 2015 - 7-10pm

Where:  Chandran Gallery
459 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA  94102

Hours: Tuesday -Saturday 12-6pm

For More Information Visit:  www.chandrangallery.com

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