Shortly after moving to Philadelphia 27 years ago, Joe Boruchow started a band called the Night Lights and made posters for the group. He used stencils and spray paint to make the posters, but as they became more intricate, he found that spray paint wasn’t working quite as well. Realizing he was only able to make a small number of posters, he switched to a new method. 

“I kind of came up with the idea of doing a black paper cut out and just putting a piece of white paper behind it and photocopying it, and then you still had this sort of handmade-looking poster,” Boruchow told the Local. 

And thus began his signature black and white stencils, which he has been posting around Germantown since moving to the neighborhood with his wife and son four years ago. And lately, it’s been making an impression. 

“I have been following the work of this (to me) unknown artist who puts up these dramatic drawings (paintings?) around Central Germantown,” resident Karen B. Singer posted on the Facebook group Changing Germantown. “Do you know who the artist is? Are there others I haven’t seen? I would love to know more.”

Take the boarded-up storefront on Wayne Ave., between the car wash and Rita’s Italian Ice. 

There,  two pieces of artwork adorn the front wall of the building. The first, titled “Stoller Nap,” depicts a baby in a stroller with a person walking while holding a cigarette – which represents Boruchow pushing his son around the city and all the hazards he encountered. The other piece, called “Garden,” represents ​​changing seasons, death and rebirth – and shows a leafy plant covering the canvas with four skeletal-looking bugs at the bottom.

The work is arresting enough that it has begun sparking conversation on Germantown neighborhood social media groups - something that Birdie Busch, another local artist who has known Boruchow for more than 20 years, said she is happy to see. 

“I consider Joe to be one of the hardest working artists and craftsmen in our city,” she said. “I have always appreciated how Joe’s work runs the gamut, from bigger socio-political themes to the quietest moments captured. His work contains multitudes.” 

A distinctive style

After coming up with the style of posters for his band, Boruchow maintained and evolved the technique. He kept the aesthetic of black cutout paper on a white background, which he photographs and uses to make prints. 

“That's just something that clicked with me. I couldn't say whether it's harder or easier, but I've always found that I’m most creative when I put limitations on myself,” Boruchow said. “The art of paper cutout is extremely limiting, in that you're only using black and white, and all of the Black has to hang together.”

Some of Boruchow’s work depicts themes of social issues and politics, such as his Kamala Harris campaign-themed artwork.

“The reason I do this is because I'm just working with things and subjects that I feel passionate about, it’s not that I seek to do political stuff,” Boruchow said. “I'm working out things that I'm thinking about that evoke an emotional response in me. So that's just how I process thoughts in life.” 

One artist who inspired Boruchow was Keith Haring, whom he met when he was 12 years old. Boruchow's father took him to see Haring’s gallery in New York where they asked the receptionist if the famous Philadelphia artist was around. Fifteen minutes later, Haring showed up and invited Boruchow to see his studio. 

“It was a real, very special experience for me,” Boruchow said. 

Careful tending

Boruchow has been an artist since he was nine years old and began pursuing it as a profession after college. He was an English major in college but dropped out after his sophomore year. Originally from Washington D.C., he moved to Philadelphia with his sister where they shared a place near the Italian market.

He became a full-time artist about 10 years ago, selling his artwork from his home. And business has picked up since he moved to Germantown, he said. 

“The main thing I like about Germantown is how great it is a place to raise a family. It's nice to have some green space and a very diverse place to raise a child who I feel is being exposed to all the best things,” Boruchow said. “And I just love my neighbors.”

Aside from his paid work, Boruchow looks for abandoned buildings, walls, bus stops or any available place to display his work. 

And it appears to be getting a welcome reception. After putting up the Wayne Avenue murals, he noticed that someone painted the building but had left his artwork painted around it, preserving it. 

“I guess whoever the building owner is liked it,” Boruchow said. “I was very flattered.” 

Another time, Boruchow noticed a wooden board covering broken glass on a Greene St. bus stop. He put up a piece of artwork he’d previously done depicting an outline of the U.S. hanging by a string about to be cut. Boruchow later noticed that the board had been carefully moved to a bus stop on Germantown Avenue, where it currently sits. 

“I finished that piece a few days after January 6, 2021, and really, it was about the insurrection at the Capitol, and if we didn't get justice for that we could lose our nation,” Boruchow said. 

For those interested in Boruchow’s artwork, he works out of his home in Germantown, selling prints and shirts on his website joeboruchow.bigcartel.com.