It was shaping up to be a pretty typical Monday before I rolled up to 1644 North Capitol Street. I was there to check out a preview of "The Consolation of Ruin," an exhibition of work by the Borf Brigade that will be open from 6 to 10 p.m., Friday through Sunday, this weekend and next.
For those of you who have managed to miss the area's many Borf-tagged walls, signs and mailboxes, the Borf Brigade is a local collective of graffiti artists. Borf became more widely known in 2005 with the arrest of John Tsombikos, an art student credited as the group's most prolific tagger.
I'd love to report on what's on view at this show, but the viewing was somewhat limited at this preview. Since the installation isn't quite finished, a Post photographer and I were blindfolded and led inside the dilapidated building. (My blindfold was a standard bandana, while my compatriot got a pink silk tie -- like something out of a slasher flick.) We were led into a tomato-red-painted back room with gold stenciling that looked like plumage of some great, tropical bird. Other than that, there was a red body-shaped figure covered with a trash bag, a ladder, paint, the template for the aforementioned stenciling and a pretty cool riff on the famous Eddie Adams execution photo made out of smiley-face stickers. Since I didn't get to see any of the other rooms, I can't say for sure what to expect at this exhibit. It smelled like sawdust, but I think that's only because the building's owner asked that the Brigade bring the building up to code before exhibiting there.
The guy who led us around the show -- a friendly, if uninformative, goggle-wearing chap who declined to give his real name -- told us that some of the court documents from Tsombikos's run-in with the law "have been Borfed" and will be up on the the wall. Photography and video work will also be on view alongside paintings and installations. Some proceeds from the sale of artwork will go toward the $12,000 Tsombikos must pay the District in restitution for his outdoor escapades. Borf Brigade representatives say that other proceeds will go to an as-yet-undetermined suicide prevention charity.
The opening reception is this Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. Organizers have assured me that no one will need to wear a blindfold.
--Julia Beizer (May 14, 2007)
