Style Wars
Synopsis
In a darkened room, a man photocopies money—greenbacks, cash. He stamps each bill with the green “Department of Treasury” seal. He adds serial numbers. He signs and then carefully cuts out each note and stacks it in a briefcase—a silver briefcase filled with bills—thousands of them. The man takes his currency to a motorcycle dealership where he selects a Harley. With five $1,000 bills he pays the cashier. . .
J.S.G. Boggs is an artist whose medium is money. Boggs’ “dollars” have been confiscated as counterfeit by the U.S. Treasury Department. He has been arrested by the Bank of England. The Australian government has expressed that his company is unwanted. Because, for Boggs, his art is not just making money. No piece is complete until it is spent. Money Man is an exploration of the curious and controversial artwork of Boggs, who was profiled in a two-part article by writer Lawrence Weschler in The New Yorker in 1987. Boggs explores that most American and yet universal subject — money. With each note that he tries to spend, Boggs asks us to question why one piece of paper (like that “officially recognized” limited-edition engraving, the dollar) has intrinsic value, while a similar piece of art, like a Boggs bill, may or may not. “In God We Trust,” indeed?
