Boggs: A Comedy of Values

By Lawrence Weschler

Book Overview

In this highly entertaining book, Lawrence Weschler chronicles the antics of J. S. G. Boggs, an artist whose consuming passion is money, or perhaps more precisely, value. Boggs draws money-paper notes in standard currencies from all over the world-and tries to spend his drawings. It is a practice that regularly lands him in trouble with treasury police around the globe and provokes fundamental questions regarding the value of art and the value of money.

"Lawrence Weschler, who evidently admires Boggs]-something not difficult to do-has written what may be the most extraordinary biography imaginable: "weird," to use a favourite Boggs word. It does something towards changing our entire outlook on money and its uses. And the reader is left with an uneasy feeling that anything in this world can be created by drawing it." -Ruth Rendell, Daily Telegraph

"As ideal a subject matter as money is for Boggs' genius, Boggs is as ideal a topic for Weschler's considerable talents. . . . A writer any less lucid than Weschler would smudge the lines, making of Boggs a counterculture caricature or a high-art huckster. And a writer any less confident would knock the balance, making academic mud pies of Boggs' enlightened chaos." -Jonathon Keats, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

" A] witty and engaging chronicle. . . . Weschler's fascinating account of the artist as agent provocateur demonstrates both the significance of Boggs's art and his determination to continue his unusual critique of the idea of money." -Henry Wessells, Washington Post Book World

" A] witty, excellently written account of a bizarre and fascinating snippet of modern life." -Paul Ormerod, Times Higher Education Supplement

"The book, like the artist, challenges people to pause and consider the extent to which the economic bedrock of everyday life is in part a confusing welter of artistic abstractions. It's a work that is at once informative, entertaining, and provocative-a reading experience, one might say, of rather good value." -Toby Lester, Atlantic Monthly

" A] fascinating tale, especially in these days of fluctuating currency rates, the euro, and inexplicable Net-stock valuations." -Paul Lukas, Fortune

Lawrence Weschler, a recipient of the prestigious Lannan Literary Award for 1998, is the author of numerous books, including Calamities of Exile: Three Nonfiction Novellas, and Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, which was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226893960
• ISBN13: 9780226893969
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Boggs

This artist has good humor. Makes you question the value of art LITERALLY. He goes out and eats and pays with a $100 bill that he drew while he was eating. He asks the waiter if he will value his drawing as $100 because he drew it and the waiter thinks about it and takes it. Theres a lot of situations he gets himself into doing this. He usually gets away with it. I recommend this book if you are looking for an interesting book.

Very entertaining book.

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.

Art as money - a great story.

The debate about what constitutes value has been tackled numerous times, but this may be the most humorous and interesting take on the subject. JSG Boggs shoves the question of value into our faces by drawing money and trying to pass it off - not as real money, but as real value. The book follows Boggs as he takes his "what is value" sideshow on the road, and into several court appearances. By the end, you'll see money in a whole new light as Boggs rides into the sunset with a pocket full of "cash."The book loses its touch (and its uniqueness) when Mr. Weschler wanders into a generic discussion of the history of money. Overall, the author's treatment does just what it should - get out of the way and let Boggs paint a marvelous story.

Artist as Monetary Jester -- The Fool Who is No Fool

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.