Adornment

James Stephen George Boggs, artist

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.