Printed Art and Social Radicalism

J.S.G. [James Stephen George] Boggs United States, born 1955
Adornment, 1990
Mixed media:
Necklace
$500 xerox note
Receipt
$100 in change

Gift of Ms. Carolyn Connerat, 1996.0187.c As critic Lawrence Weschler noted, “J.S.G. Boggs still makes money the old-fashioned way – he draws it.” Boggs’ performance work challenges the role of official currency by substituting his own laboriously hand-drawn and photocopied bills for authentic ones. Boggs’ works also underscore the role of art as commodity when he barters for goods with his artwork, the hand-drawn bills. Boggs has been arrested for counterfeiting in England and in Australia, as well as investigated in the United States by the secret service – which could be taken as evidence of the effectiveness of his critique.

Adornment is a full documentation of one such transaction. Boggs purchased a $400 necklace with a photocopy of one of his hand-drawn $500 bills. He received $100 change in authentic currency.