Swampy, whose website currently consists of a Youtube video called Swampy’s Diary, calls Oakland his hometown where he lives in a squat but travels the continent by train. He has developed a following by posting pictures of his train hopping adventures as well as his “swampdonkey” tag consisting of a tusked skull which has been seen across the US from California to Atlanta and as far south as Mexico. Also often seen are crystals which are a major part of one of his Atlanta pieces. While his work is often hard to get to off train yards or on the top of water towers, some of it can be seen in a book he published in 2011. He considers himself a “bootleg” artist since he never went to art school and is unprofessional approach. His ability to turn ordinary places into landmarks makes his work intriguing. He has two pieces in Atlanta that I see on a regular basis. One was done for Living Walls 2010. The mural is one of three on wall shared also by Gaia and Greg Mike.

This second piece is a newer one near “the stairs to nowhere” on Hill Street near Martin Luther King.

This is the Living Walls 2010 piece by Gaia I mentioned above. You can read more about Gaia on my Sunrise of Edgewood post here.