Boggs: A Comedy of Values (Passions and Wonders Series) (Hardcover)

by Lawrence Weschler (Author) "J.S.G. BOGGS is a young artist with a certain flair, a certain panache, a certain je ne payes pas..." (more)
Key Phrases: Bank of England, New York, Old Bailey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
James Stephen George Boggs is not a con artist, he's a talented artist who deftly renders his own currency and "spends" it. Struck by the value of money, and what paper notes represent, he draws U.S. dollar bills, English pound notes, Swiss francs, and other forms of paper money; then he barters his illustrious artwork in lieu of cash to willing merchants who agree to honor his currency for services and products. In Boggs: A Comedy of Values, Lawrence Weschler, author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning book Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, documents Boggs's whimsical antics, offering a quirky and lively meditation on the value of currency and workmanship and a richly informative (albeit brief) social history of money.

Boggs does not sell his "money" directly, as Weschler learns, nor does he attempt to pass his drawings off as actual bills. For Boggs, the elaborate transaction of negotiation is a crucial element in his work, and the tangible proof of his success--receipts and proper change--is included in the final product. Of course, treasury departments from around the world are anything but pleased; the second half of the book deals extensively with the artist's court battle with the Bank of England. As Weschler notes, Boggs is not the first to question the value of money through art (Larry Rivers, Pablo Picasso, Timm Ulrichs, Adolf Wölfi, and Jurgen Harten are just some artists who have put currency to the test), but the author finds in Boggs's work an ideal subject for opening a probing inquiry into the economy of money, especially timely at the end of the 20th century as paper currency--which once directly represented precious-metal coins--evolves into "binary sequences of pulses racing between computers." --Kera Bolonik

From Publishers Weekly
Just what is money worth? Or, what is the value of value? Funny questions, maybe, but they are central to the figure at the heart of Weschler's latest paper chase of a profile. J.S.G. Boggs is a slow-change artist. He draws legal tenderAwith varying degrees of realismAand attempts to spend it: at restaurants, hotels, airports, convenience stores and galleries around the world. He has been arrested for his aesthetic endeavors, stalked by British treasury cops, had his work confiscated by the Secret Service and been detained by baffled proprietors. Boggs's artAa brand of conceptual performance with roots in Duchamp and WarholAis contingent upon the abysses of logic that open up when people are asked to accept his counterfeit bills not as actual money (Boggs isn't a con man), but as art. As art, of course, they are worth something. An anomaly, if not a minor celebrity, in certain corners of the art world, Boggs serves Weschler well as a springboard for thoughts on the protean nature of both art and money. With meandering brilliance and levity, Weschler delves not only into the outlandish antics of Boggs the provocateur, but also into the history of banking, the development of paper money and the valuation of art. One of the great, and usually convincing, spinners of true tales that seem tall, Weschler writes in an erudite yet nimble styleAitself a great service to the popularization of ideas. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226893952
• ISBN-13: 978-0226893952
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #798,585 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Artist as Monetary Jester -- The Fool Who is No Fool, December 14, 1999

By	Dale Keiger (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

I've admired Lawrence Wechsler's work for many years. My first exposure to it may have been his first piece on JSG Boggs in The New Yorker, a piece that's part of this anthology.

This book is somewhat cobbled together. It collects a handful of Mr. Wechsler's articles on Boggs (as he prefers to be called), and not all the articles are of equal heft or merit. But the story of Boggs is sufficiently quirky and intellectually provoking, I found myself captivated by these pieces all over again.

Boggs, through Wechsler (who is an excellent reporter and accomplished writer), challenges the reader to ponder value, art, and how one thinks about money. When artists begin talking theory and the intellectual foundation of their work, I usually get off the bus, but not this time. Boggs, under his somewhat bent personality (and I mean that as a compliment), is genuinely thoughtful, and provocative in the best way.

I urge you to read this book, and to seek other of Mr. Wechsler's work, most of which seems to be available again.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please HELP!, August 16, 1999

By	[e-mail] (NYC, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

I have until the end of September to convince the SUPREME COURT of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA to hear my case. Please HELP!

If you believe in FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, or JUSTICE, please send me an email now so I can tell you how you can help.

Don't let the SECRET SERVICE seize and destroy my art. You deserve the right to decide for yourself. Don't let them make that decision for you!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, please buy this book and READ IT. (while you still can).

Then write me at - [e-mail]

5.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining book., June 9, 2008

By	Doran Of Illinois "numismatic guru" (Greenup, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read the book - let me say that I have been reading about Mr. Boggs in the numismatic press and have seen his handywork from various coin dealers for years. This man's artistic talent would rank excellent, and this book gives the reader an inside look at the man who has comically mocked the artwork of government issued money (especially U.S. money) and its no wonder why his work is appriciated by both collectors and non-collectors of coins and currency.