Borf is dead. The masked mystery whose ubiquitious graffiti has confused Washington for months is revealed to be an 18-year-old anarchist. He had a good run, though, getting his work on dozens of locations in D.C., then going on tour through Raleigh, New York and San Francisco, inspiring an internet following in the process. And while his work wasn't brilliant enough to match the romantic counterculture image he tried to create, there's a truly sad story behind his pseudonym and icon: both belong to a friend who committed suicide two years ago. Of course, that's unlikely to arouse the sympathy of the various city officials spending (I would assume) hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove his work.
posted by gsteff on Jul 15, 2005 - 62 comments