JSC Boggs

JSC Boggs is my kind of performance artist. He creates elaborate, creative illustrations of money and then 'spends' them. He challenged himself to survive for an entire year exclusively by trading his art for what he needed.

Here are his rules:
*don't sell the drawings, exchange them at face value for goods and services (a $10 drawing~face value~ for $10 worth of goods)
*during the transaction, don't reveal that there are collectors all over the world trying to track down the 'Boggs Notes' who are willing to pay many, many times the face value on the piece
*wait at least 24 hours before selling the receipt and change from the transaction to a collector
*don't give the collector any extra information; they have to track down the piece on their own and negotiate a purchase

He was once arrested for counterfeiting in England and later, in Australia. As he sat at the table during his trial in England, he spent his time drawing English Banknotes. (Hahahaha, perfect!)
I first heard about Boggs in the New Yorker (3/1992) in an article (*this link might not work, the New Yorker archives are accessible to subscribers only) by Elizabeth Wurtzer. Read it, it's remarkable.

The US Secret Service once raided an exhibit and his home and confiscated most of his artwork. He was never charged with counterfeiting in the US, yet his work has not been returned.* Yeah, that's Boggs in the middle

He draws francs when in France, dollars in the US, yen in Japan. I suppose he has mastered the Euro by now too.

Isn't it just *amazing how people use their talents?
*this applies to both artists and government officials; right....amazing