Philadelphia Weekly
November 14th, 2007

"Impact: New Paper Cutouts by Joe Boruchow"

You might’ve already seen work by self-taught artist Joe Boruchow pasted in record stores promoting the Nite Lights—the eclectic rock band he fronts (occasionally in a sexy cop uniform). The “Impact” collection—his sixth annual show at Bean Cafe—is his most ambitious yet in both concept and craftsmanship, and features stark images of a funeral procession, kaboom clouds, gravediggers and erections. There’s a baroque attention to detail as the negative spaces sliced out of black paper contort the viewer’s usual perspective of black-and-white. The pieces have an Edwardian (as in Gorey) macabre sensibility one could describe as recreational apocalyptic with Raymond Pettibon’s pop on top and a fat side of Francis Bacon. The images quake with overtly political imagery, especially a five-panel narrative entitled Death of a Patriot. Boruchow, known about town as Joe B., says the series is an exploration of the psychosexual origins of U.S. foreign policy and its ethos. So yeah, he basically thinks we’re fucked. And the coffee’s deelish.
(Tara Murtha)