"Ridin' Dirty Face"

In the hierarchy of wayward youth, those who ride the rails instead of a patch of sidewalk on Haight or Telegraph streets hold an exalted position. If they get drunk enough, they can argue they are upholding a unique American tradition. Perhaps, but Depression-era men took to the hobo life because they couldn’t work, not because they couldn’t work at Jack in the Box. And few old-timers sealed their fate by giving themselves facial tattoos. @cal body 1:Photographer Mike Brodie feels right at home in boxcars and forested shacks, given that his friends currently reside there. As “the Polaroid Kidd,” he had the slam-dunk notion to start taking pictures of them. His solo exhibit “Ridin’ Dirty Face” features addictive portraits of the modern downtrodden, from hobos and punks to carnival folk and the heavily soiled. His pictures are so raw and greasy, you can almost smell them -- depending on who shows up at tonight’s closing, you just might. In November, Brodie has a show in Paris with Swoon, and we’re guessing he’ll come back a hero, given how the city collapsed over JT LeRoy (the French just adore their American outcasts). Tonight’s meet-and-greet features Brodie and musician Dr. Cambells, aka “Soup.” Soup also appears in the exhibit, turned out like a 1900s dockside musician while squatting in a grimy room so demoralized it’s probably haunted.
Aug. 3-31