The Borf Brigade Takes It Inside

The opening reception last Friday starts an hour behind schedule. Sixty or so people, mostly young folks, wait outside 1644 North Capitol St. NW, next to the SAVEMORE SUPERMARKET and a sign that says no loitering, littering or drinking. The art gallery building was unoccupied until the Borf Brigade leased it for a dollar a year and fixed it up. A handwritten note on the door that originally said "Borf Show not open to public until 6 pm" has been revised to read: "Borf Show not open to public until we say so."

A couple of years ago, when it was showing up all over the city, Borf graffiti -- a source of great irritation and expense for many -- was also a source of joy for some. The more imaginative of the creations, including the five-foot-high Borf face that appeared on a Roosevelt Bridge sign and the stencil of a little girl holding a sign saying "Grownups are Obsolete," offered some residents a playful respite from the urban landscape. It wasn't supposed to be there. No one knew what it meant or who had done it.

The mystery of Borf was much of the graffiti's appeal, and something was lost when, after Tsombikos's arrest, he was discovered to be an an anarchist art student, then 18, from Great Falls.

Now the question is, does the Borf ethos work as gallery art? Or is something lost in translation when something counterculture becomes something for sale? The Borf Brigade's Web site, (yes, they have a Web site, www.borfyou.com), describes the show, in art-school patois, as "a spectacular display of banal art objects." What does that look like?

We wish we could answer those questions. We wish we could say that "Consolation" is a provocative show, cleverly derivative of the street artist Banksy, as well as a proud homage to a young friend of Tsombikos's who committed suicide. It was this young man, whose nickname was Borf, who was immortalized in Tsombikos's graffiti, and "The Consolation" might be seen as a tribute to him.

Or it might not. We can't say because a petite young woman with punky hair is walking over to us right now and saying, "Unfortunately, I'm not going to let you in."

She doesn't say why but she doesn't need to. Two years ago, after his arrest, this reporter wrote the profile identifying Borf as Tsombikos. The story prompted protest graffiti on the streets of downtown Washington.

Now, in a strangely censorial way, the dissidents have become The Man.