Meet Marcello

I met Marcello in Truckee. He was promoting his new movie about graffiti on freight trains. Graffiti art has been his passion since a friend took him tagging under a bridge and got him addicted.

"After that I got all of my own equipment, but in a few months I was in Jail," Marcello said. "I think it is a way for people without money to advertise themselves. All the rich corporations can afford to put up big billboards and advertisements that everyone has to look at. Graffiti is a way for everyone else to do the same."

He has been recording graffiti on freight trains for years, and his original film, "We Ride by Train Vol. 1," was filmed exclusively in Reno. The films use careful music choices and editing to create a visual narrative of the tags that pass by, and interviews with tramps and anonymous artists add even more intrigue.

My favorite parts are the stop-motion segments of artists painting the trains. It's like watching a flower bloom in a harsh industrial landscape.

Here is a clip from his newest movie filmed around the Bay Area: