J. S. G. Boggs

Who is J. S. G. Boggs?

J. S. G. Boggs is an American artist, best known for his hand-drawn, one-sided depictions of U.S. banknotes and his various "Boggs bills" he draws for use in his performances. He spends his "Boggs notes" only for their face value. If he draws a $100 bill, he exchanges it for $100 worth of goods. He then sells any change he gets, the receipt, and sometimes the goods he purchased as his "artwork." If an art collector wants a Boggs note, he must track it down himself. Boggs will tell a collector where he spent the note, but he does not sell them directly. His works are held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. the MOMA in NYC, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Babson College, Wellesley, MA, the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, the Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL, the Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS, and The British Museum, London, England, to name but a few. Boggs and his work are chronicled in Boggs: A Comedy of Values, by Lawrence Weschler, published by University of Chicago Press.