Comments on: What is this picture?

Question: What is this picture?

condour75 — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 16:08:24 -0800

What's this image? We saw it stenciled onto a wall in Athens.

My brother took the picture. He thinks it's cool and wants to make it into a t-shirt, but I figure we should find out what it represents first, just in case it's the symbol for the local skinheads or something. (that would be bad)

Or if anyone knows a good place to go to ID grafitti tags, that'd be a start.

By: coach_mcguirk

coach_mcguirk — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 16:12:27 -0800

Hmm.. looks like some Banksy-style stencil graffiti.

By: mecran01

mecran01 — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 16:20:19 -0800

Ooooh, I like the Banksy.

The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a by-product of making something that means something. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit.

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 16:23:07 -0800

I think it's borf, although my first guess was banksy too.

By: duck

duck — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 16:24:50 -0800

My guess was Michael Jackson...you know..before.

By: ijoshua

ijoshua — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 17:45:09 -0800

Umm . . . borf is northeast US & Banksy is UK, right? This pic was said to be taken in Athens (Greece.)

At first, I thought you meant Athens, GA, cause I've seen some good stencil graffiti there lately, too.

By: taz

taz — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 17:58:15 -0800

Must be borf. (If you google "Borf" and "Athens, Greece", you'll see references indicating a borf presence there.)

Here's a recent MeFi post on borf.

By: frykitty

frykitty — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 18:10:30 -0800

There are an awful lot of stencil artists out there. I'm still looking, but so far all I've been able to find is another shot of your enigmatic fellow.

By: trinarian

trinarian — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 18:23:29 -0800

Matisyahu?

By: O9scar

O9scar — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 18:41:02 -0800

Wooster Collective is an excellent resource for street art - I don't see much listed for Borf or Athens, unfortunately.

I think it's highly unlikely there's any sinister connotation to this bit of street art.

By: frykitty

frykitty — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 18:52:11 -0800

I've been looking here and here, and am empty-handed. I agree with 09scar, it just looks like art to me.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 19:15:13 -0800

doesn't everything, these days?

By: condour75

condour75 — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 20:08:01 -0800

Wow! I just read that Borf post a few days ago, and never put 2 and 2 together. That sounds very plausible, although if it's not him, I suppose it's one of these other guys, or an imitator. Thanks for all your help, guys, and yeah it was Athens Greece, not Athens Georgia.

By: frykitty

frykitty — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 22:35:28 -0800

Well this is very interesting. It's not his stencil, but if you write him, he might just know the artist. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an email address on his site.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 08:08:00 -0800

Does not look like Borf to me, besides if Borf had hit Athens he would have boasted about it.

By: clarissajoy

clarissajoy — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 08:50:54 -0800

It doesn't look like Borf to me either (and I see lots of Borf graffiti every day, living in DC). The stencil style is similar, but the faces in Borf graffiti are very distinctive, and look nothing like the face on your picture.

Also, Borf was in Europe within the last few months, but frykitty's link to an identical stencil is dated 2004 - before Borf went to Europe, according to the Post article.

By: condour75

condour75 — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 17:33:40 -0800

Ok so we're thinking it's not borf. So just some random artist? The guy that frykitty mentions seems to have found it on the same wall in athens. I have plenty to report to my brother, and it sounds like it's not the local chapter of the Satan's Helpers. Thanks everybody!