Adornment, James Stephen George Boggs

Artwork Overview

James Stephen George Boggs, Adornment
James Stephen George Boggs, Adornment
James Stephen George Boggs
Adornment
1990
James Stephen George Boggs
1955–2017
Adornment, 1990
Where object was made: United States
Dimensions:
Object Height/Width (Height x Width): 49.7 x 47.3 cm
Object Height/Width (Height x Width): 19 9/16 x 18 5/8 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 28 x 27 1/4 x 1 1/4 in
Weight (Weight): 8 lbs
Credit line: Gift of Ms. Carolyn Connerat
Accession number: 1996.0187.d
Not on display
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Archive Label 2003: As critic Lawrence Weschler noted, “J.S.G. Boggs still makes money the old-fashioned way-he draws it.” Boggs’s performance pieces challenge the role of official currency by substituting his own laboriously hand-drawn and photocopied bills for authentic ones. Boggs’s works also underscore the role of art as commodity when he barters for goods with his 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 artistic strategy. 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.