Article J.S.G. Boggs
Type: Art.
Summary: Boggs draws money that’s almost convincing enough to pass for the real thing.
J.S.G. Boggs is a contemporary artist whose work deals with the tension between money’s aesthetic value and its economic function. He draws currency: Dollars, euros, or whatever the currency is where he happens to be. His drawings are realistic enough to be mistaken for actual money, except that he leaves one side blank (save for his signature and thumb-print).
Currency Exchange Program
Boggs “spends” his work in stores or restaurants by finding people willing to accept it at the face value it depicts, in exchange for goods or services. He claims to have purchased “hot dogs, watches, airplane tickets, rent, clothing, jewelry”, and more.
His spiel to merchants: “Hello, I’m an artist and I draw money. This is a drawing. I did it with my own hand. It’s not an etching. I drew this. It took me a long time to do. I was wondering whether you’d honor my drawing at face value.”
If Boggs should ever present you with one of his works, it would be smart to take it since collectors track down these “Boggs bills” and buy them for well upward of ten times their face value. Because Boggs won’t sell his currency directly to collectors, they’ve gone to great lengths to acquire the original sketches from said merchants.
Ironically, as Boggs has become better known, counterfeit Boggs bills have started popping up. These are fakes of fakes. Boggs, however, told a collector who reported buying one of his spent bills for $2000, only to learn it was the work of a copycat, not to worry too much about it. He figured the fake was a good one, so she got her money’s worth.
Legal Problems
J.S.G. Boggs’ “currency exchange program” began by accident in 1984 at a Chicago bar. The bar’s waitress liked a drawing that he had made on a napkin, and accepted it as currency to pay for his drinks.
In 1986, the British government charged him with being a counterfeiter, but the case was thrown out of court. To celebrate his victory over the English legal system, Boggs vowed that he would live on his own self-made currency for a year.
In 1991, the U.S. Secret Service seized 15 of his works hanging in an exhibition in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A year later, they raided Boggs’ workshop and home, and confiscated the rest of his drawings plus his business records. According to Boggs, they took over 1300 items, and they never brought charges against him. To this day, the Secret Service still has possession of his works.
In 1993, he began suing the Secret Service to return his confiscated works. He’s been paying his lawyers in $100,000 denominations of Boggs currency.
Blue Spike
He’s now working with Blue Spike, an e-cash company, creating a perfectly legal encrypted online currency. According to Boggs, Blue Spike’s technology will “revolutionize how tech art is authenticated, distributed, and handled.” He’s a strong proponent of copyright protection of digital art.
The Swiss Franc
When he recently started drawing his versions of the Swiss franc, Switzerland’s government actually “got the joke.” They honored J.S.G. Boggs with an official proclamation allowing him to “spend his Boggs currency in Switzerland.”
Replicas of his money hang in the British Museum, the Smithsonian Museum, and Chicago’s Art Institute.
References
- Weschler, Lawrence. (1999). Boggs: A Comedy of Values. University of Chicago Press.
- Olav Velthuis, “In Boggs We Trust”, The Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journal
- Jesse Walker,“The Art of the Deal” Reason
- “Art on Trial”, Thomas Jefferson Center
