Draft:Good Guy Boris

Good Guy Boris, alternatively President Boris or simply Boris, is a Bulgarian graffiti artist, journalist, social media influencer, and musician. He first gained prominence within the graffiti subculture through his deliberate eschewing of anonymity.

Early career
Good Guy Boris began painting graffiti as a 12-year-old when he first sprayed the name of a local football club surrounded by phallic symbols on a wall in his native city of Sofia. By the age of 14 he had left his parental home in order to pursue a career documenting the local graffiti scene. He produced his own magazine, before gaining a job at an advertising company, allowing him to acquire skills that would enable his future career. After being made redundant Good Guy Boris founded his own website The Grifters Journal. The journal aimed to document the graffiti subculture in an alternative way, showcasing the lifestyle behind the art.

Imprisonment
After moving to Paris, Good Guy Boris was arrested by a police anti-graffiti unit in May 2014. He was then held on remand in Fleury-Mérogis Prison for four months. On regaining his freedom, Good Guy Boris released a video on YouTube in which he lampooned his imprisonment;

"A couple of months ago, a group of delegates was sent to my house, with the great news that I have been nominated for Great Success in the field of culture and 'art contemporain'. I have to tell that the traditions of receiving gifts and presents in my country are totally different from the ones in France."

He has since stated that his legal tribulations in France were a direct result of his social media presence and public persona.

Greece
After moving to Greece, Good Guy Boris featured in and helped produce the Graffiti Olympics video with the graffiti crew 1UP. The video, filmed in Athens, parodied the Winter Olympics which were taking place at the time. In response to the implementation of COVID-19 lockdowns Good Guy Boris produced video content of himself travelling from Greece, through Bulgaria to Ukraine, which was then released on the OnlyFans platform.

Reception
Good Guy Boris has received both criticism and praise from within the graffiti community in response to his open public persona and monetization of graffiti. His practice and techniques of train graffiti documentation, and use of motifs such as a bicephalous eagle as branding for The Grifters Journal, have been described as having roots going back to Soviet agit-trains.