January 8, 2006
Opinionist: Why We'll Miss Borf's D.C. Occupancy
As has been widely publicized in 2005 year-end wrap-ups, Borf's reign as master tagger is over. Late last month, he was charged with a felony, fined, and forbidden to enter the District, with the exception of attending classes at the Corcoran. Despite my Borf fatigue, I miss him.
John Tsombikos--Borf--certainly wasn't a unifying figure. In wallpapering D.C. with his etchings, he seemed to provoke love or loathing among people who were paying attention.
Those who viewed his work as destructive are relieved that he finally got his comeuppance. After all, he damaged property, he should pay the price. In addition, many who condemned his work embrace the "broken windows theory", believing that his work encouraged more serious crime: something D.C.—among the least safe of US cities—can hardly afford.
Few have recognized the driving motivation behind Borf, the nickname of Tsombikos' close friend who committed suicide in the fall of 2003. Perhaps as a means to expunge grief and survivor's guilt, Tsombikos graduated from high school a year early and set to work tagging nearly a hundred spots around town. That his tags were alternately entertaining, irreverent, whimsical, or dark showed the work of a creative kid whose outlook on life and, ultimately, whose future, has been radically shaped by what had started as his response to a tragedy over which he had no control.
Regardless of his motivation, Borf was compelling. On our way home from work, on our way to the market, or in the minutiae of our daily lives, his scrawls and stencils encouraged us to examine "what is art" during an era dominated by terrorist talk, war games, corporate scandals, and wiretapping. With the culture wars largely shunted to politics, religion, and science, it felt refreshingly '90s to see people riled up about art and its merit or lack thereof.
Why does it matter? Because art—be it highbrow or populist-- can ignite conversation, reinforce our convictions, act as a panacea, make us laugh, or generate sympathy in ways provocations in the halls of government or boardrooms may not. Regardless of whether Borf’s work is high or low, his efforts did all of these things.
Clearly, other people besides me miss him, or at least miss the organic, public, provocative nature of his work. As we'd expect, business has been the first to fill the gap, with its Sony PSP graffiti campaign in the District, which likely would not have happened had Borf not set the precedent. With hope, others will continue to create murals, sculptures, or works in whatever form to reinforce Borf's reminder of the power of public art when it intersects with our daily lives.
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I think Great Falls could use some tagging. Just saying.
So, would it have been okay for Borf to tag your garage door/mailbox/car? What his medium had been plant killer instead of paint and it was your flower garden, would that have been okay too?
I think you are giving too much credit to a hypocritical rich-kid (and his enabling parents). Why should a small-business owner/taxpayer/etc. have to pay for his grief?
I don't think that Borf was compelling in the slightest. I still see BORF tagged on newspaper stands and signs once in a while and it just makes me a bit crazy. Here's a kid with a sackful of artistic talent and he's wasting it on a newspaper box or a road sign. Some of his larger works show real talent and depth, but at the end of the day they're still just graffiti. I think Borf isn't capable of the kind of rationalization that you've given him, that this is some sad way of "making his mark on the world after the death of his friend."
But, well written.
I agree with Melissa. Not all grafitti is bad, especially if it adds some pathos and comedy to a city that considers itself all-important. If we can't laugh at ourselves, we've lost something deeply human. I hope to see more writing from Melissa. She argues well and has a strong prose style. Cheers.
LJB
The only thing Borf's crappy tags ever compelled me to do was despise annoying young liberals who, anguished by and inability to choose between anarchy and socialism, make a mess out of other people's neighborhoods. Here's to hoping that John Tsombikos' sentence includes some jail time, so that he can understand just how lucky he really is to be white, male, and living in the USA.
Well put.
Kid had guts, that's for sure, and it'll be a while before DC gets another writer that's quite as sensational.
Sensation: I think that's the point that all the Borf-haters are missing - graffiti is not intended to be some quiet, sober, PC little thing, and its definitely not always pretty. If Borf gets under your skin, then Borf wins. (How do you like that logic? I stole it from GWB.)
People love to hate on Borf, especially now that he's been exposed and is pretty vulnerable to criticism. When I look at the above comments, there is a very petty sentiment running through a few of them. I guess pettiness is simply inherent when you complain about minor vandalism, and in the meantime, you manage to ignore some of the bigger problems that this city faces.
Maybe it's just me, but there are a LOT of more important problems to complain about around here (and that's what blogs are for), and what's more, some of these problems could even be SOLVED if we spent half the energy that we do worrying about some misunderstood kid from the 'burbs.
Also, WTF, 7 posts and still, no one has mentioned how great Cool Disco Dan was. Someone has to be that guy for every Borf-related post.
Borf was no more than a spoiled rich suburban white kid who got his kicks out of messing up neighborhoods other than his own. Rather than some "provocative street artist", Borf was a petty vandal, a prankster who just happened to have a little more (still rudimentary) skill at art. We're not talking about Vermeer, here! Graffiti IS a major problem in this city, and the tag wars you see all over our alleys and facades (and my neighbors car door) make the place look threatening, unsafe, and unclean. I'd love to see Borf do a couple of years worth of work on the Clean City team, cleaning up his trail of paint as well as his copycat wannabee followers.
I am just so thrilled to have Borf's so-called "artwork" all around my street, I could puke. That little suburban snot was IMHO neither talented nor clever, and I'll be glad to hear it when he breaks down and gets caught painting a dumpster with some trite piffle and gets packed off to go toss salads for a few years.
When did DCist comment section turn into the Op/Ed for the Washington Times. What a bunch of crabby, old Republicans you people sound like. "Packed off to go toss salads for a few years" That's rich. MM, you sound like quite a dick.
Thanks so much, Jeffie Jetton, for taking this a step *higher* to the level of personal insult. Bravo! So, I take it that getting riled up when overpriveliged brats commit vandalism is now a republican characteristic? I'll bet money that you don't live in Adams Morgan or Dupont (and if you do, you don't own property).
MM, your implication that only property owners' opinions are valid in this case, is indeed a right-leaners', elitist characteristic. Mr. Jetton's "insult" pales in comparison to your bloodlust for Borf's rape...FYI, such reactions to crime are also typical of republicans.
And why is being labeled sounding like a republican such a seething, deeply personal "insult" to you? Bad conscience?
Just to be absolutely clear, this is a direct insult on your intelligence.
Oh, sorry, that wasn't clear - I mistook it for a boring canned party line. Well, it's good to know that petty property crime is how the class war is now being fought...my chauffeur won't need to worry about being targeted, which means that I won't have to throw any more orphans out in the snow, which gets so tiresome.
Come on, people, this is vandalism, pure and simple. Get over it.
Hey Borf Hatin -- since, as you point out, there are so many other problems in DC to worry about, then why aren't you p.o.'d about BORF's needless vandalism? I've literally spent close to 100 hours of weekend time cleaning up his mess in my neighborhood. This is time that I didn't have to do thing like plant trees with the Casey foundation, or volunteer with my local literacy council, or do other socially-productive activities. Like it or not, many others who want to live in a decent city have been similarly distracted by a nuisance like BORF.
I also wouldn't call BORF's work petty. Tagging hundreds of sites throughout northwest is no small task, either in terms of work or cost of clean-up.
Tsombikos did the crime, he should some serious time.
While I agree that BORF had some guts and pushed the edge (like the tagging of the Constitution Avenue highway sign), graffiti is a scourge of the city and contributes greatly to disorder.
http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2005/07/beautiful-decay.html
I had a tough childhood myself, and actually saw someone die in a suicide (BORF didn't see his friend die, did he?), but I merely take this out on myself, I don't (usually) subject others to the extant ramifications of my tragedy.
Similarly, BORF could have tagged to his heart's content in Fairfax County, where he's from, and I really wouldn't have cared. Or if he took up mural creation, legitimately.
Please upgrade opinionist.
No to Borf, that's really rich: "Sorry kids, can't teach you to read this weekend - gotta clean up Borf's huge mess again."
If it's not glaringly apparent by the range of reactions to the "distracting nuisance" that is Borf's graffiti, the seriousness of his crime is a fairly subjective matter.
That being said, it is up to you to decide how to spend your volunteer time, not Borf.
To put it in perspective, what if I said that instead of tutoring blind kids, I spent all my free time chasing down people who roll through stop signs?
And also, I never said Borf's work was petty. I said some of the above criticisms were petty.
It's not about whether Borf is wrong or not; That's already been determined. As I had written, he destroyed property and should pay the price. Nor do I think that we should indulge everyone who has had a tough life. That he tagged under the name of his friend does enlighten me as to why he did it; it does not excuse what he did. However, his more interesting murals (and, yes, I realize he was not picasso) reminded me of how I wish we could expect more public art in Washington, be it on buildings, in Cleveland Park in front of Uptown, in Meridian Hill, or whatever. And I'm not talking about the plastic cows around town. I'm talking about something with more bite. In addition, many works that we do have have been around for years, and years, and years. It's not something we can expect in DC, which is unfortunate. That's what Borf reinforced for me.
All the righteous indignation about Borf is pretty hilarious.
Sorry, Borf Hatin, you're the one who said that we should ignore the graffiti in favor of the other major problems in the city. So what's the deal -- is the tagging petty enough to be overlooked, or should we consider it a serious crime?
You're also the one who said that the city has much bigger problems. I agree. But, Borf's vandalism is a lot more visible than other problems, and, like it or not, cleaning it up is going to distract do gooders from doing other good deeds.
It seems to me that most anti-Borf art people are either jealous or snobs.
It seems to me that most pro-Borf people don't own anything and have never had to clean up from vandalism.
Tell you what, when Borf gets out, we'll make sure he puts his "art" on each and every one of the cars belonging to those of you who think he should be allowed to do whatever he damn well pleases.