John Tsombikos AKA BORF: Fine Art Prints & Artworks for Sale

Born in Manhattan in 1987, John Tsombikos, aka BORF is known for his powerful blend of street and academy, seamlessly merging graffiti with fine art, for a pioneering aesthetic. His prolific career was ignited by the tragic suicide of his childhood best friend, Borf. Struggling with grief, Tsombikos picked up the nickname (also the acronym for America’s Bill Of Rights Foundation) and blasted the streets of Washington D.C. with furious statements against the horror of growing up - “grownups are obsolete” and “BORF writes letters to your children,” - until his eventual arrest. But the end of his probation coincided with his graduation from art school, and marked a turning point in his artistic development, channelling his passion into a strong body of work. Discovering a love for the great abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, Tsombikos began work on his ongoing series ‘Rothko’s Modern Life’ in 2008, which sees powerful panels of emotive paint (Rothko’s signature style) overlaid onto fragments of graffiti art. This powerful visual symbiosis reflects, in Tsombikos words, “human tragedy, ecstasy, doom.” Today, alongside expanding his Rothko series, Tsombikos works to address the alienation of urban life, commuter culture, and a general disillusionment with the sad status quo of adulthood through his blend of hardcore graffiti and conceptual abstract art.
Born in Manhattan in 1987, John Tsombikos, aka BORF is known for his powerful blend of street and academy, seamlessly merging graffiti with fine art, for a pioneering aesthetic. His prolific career was ignited by the tragic suicide of his childhood best friend, Borf. Struggling with grief, Tsombikos picked up the nickname (also the acronym for America’s Bill Of Rights Foundation) and blasted the streets of Washington D.C. with furious statements against the horror of growing up - “grownups are obsolete” and “BORF writes letters to your children,” - until his eventual arrest. But the end of his probation coincided with his graduation from art school, and marked a turning point in his artistic development, channelling his passion into a strong body of work. Discovering a love for the great abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, Tsombikos began work on his ongoing series ‘Rothko’s Modern Life’ in 2008, which sees powerful panels of emotive paint (Rothko’s signature style) overlaid onto fragments of graffiti art. This powerful visual symbiosis reflects, in Tsombikos words, “human tragedy, ecstasy, doom.” Today, alongside expanding his Rothko series, Tsombikos works to address the alienation of urban life, commuter culture, and a general disillusionment with the sad status quo of adulthood through his blend of hardcore graffiti and conceptual abstract art.