Trained Eye: Rail Art Plays Visual Tricks with Tracks & Ties

train art rail music

This artist colors outside the lines (or off the rails, if you will) with his clever train-centric creations, dashing onto the tracks to complete pieces that play with the site-specific transit infrastructure in public places.

train painting hand shake

train graffiti scary jump

Portuguese artist Artur Bordalo (AKA Bordalo II) works in and around the train lines, using what is there as props and backdrops for his colorful compositions, turning them into musical lines, extended arms or text underlines.

train on off art

bordalo train tick tac toe

train outside the lines

Many of these are necessarily quickly-executed pieces, placed as they are around active train tracks, while others use abandoned railways and include three-dimensional objects in the mix.

bardalo wall apple mixed

bardalo installation art

bardalo mixed media art

We would be remiss not to mention his other works of urban installation art, often vibrant and including mixed-media elements drawn together, collaged and montaged from their environments (often including garbage and even its receptacles).