Scot Borofsky
"Squall"
Colored Pencil and Oil Paint on Canvas, Welded Metal Frame
25” x 31”
2017
Scot Borofsky (b. 1957) was born and raised in Brattleboro, VT. After studying sculpture at Brandeis University, he received his BA in Painting from the renowned Rhode Island School of Design in 1981. Borofsky then moved to New York City on a Max Beckmann Memorial Painting Scholarship from the Brooklyn Museum. In late 1982, Borofsky began using spray paint to create large murals exemplifying ideas from different sources of ancient iconography. His work references New Age philosophical ideas popularized during the sixties and seventies, including symbols for cross-cultural spirituality, meditating figures, and shamanism. Borofsky’s outdoor work is conceptual and site-specific, making direct references to art from various ancient cultures. His use of spray paint on brick or cement as a medium, and repetition of specific symbols as a signature and tag, connects his work with the Graffiti movement of this time. This movement preceded the development of what we know as Street Art today.
Borofsky’s largest accomplishment took a period of three years to finish. The Pattern Walk (1982-1985) in downtown NYC consisted of eighteen designs within a one-block-sized area, painted on partially collapsed, burnt-out, and abandoned buildings. Manifested as large figurative symbols and long horizontal patterns, these designs were painted in bright contrasting colors. The work was reminiscent of ancient ruins site while being located within the modern metropolis. It was created at the East River in the public housing projects on Avenue D, a lawless zone during the 1980s. Borofsky traversed alone into the decaying architecture of the East Village, working between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM. He was never caught or arrested.
His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Pierpont Morgan Library, Arkansas Art Center, Museum of Oaxaca, Werner Kramarski, Stephen Berini, Justin Ebersman, Randolph Rocha, Michael Mckenzie, Lou DiBela, Scott and Julie Latham, Olga Capasso, Mr. and Mrs. Herb Benningson, and Barry Stevens.