Money man

Duration: 60

Year Published: 1992

Creator: Milestone Film and Video

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: Issues concerning the definitions of art and the rules governing the placement of value converge in this portrait of J. S. G. Boggs, an artist/provocateur whose specialty is making re-creations of currency. Intrinsic to the completion of his creations are their use in actual transactions for goods and services. The U.S. government, however, considers Boggs a counterfeiter and in Cheyenne, Wyoming, federal agents confiscated fifteen bills to be analyzed by forensic specialists. This humorous and pointed film follows the artist as he successfully exchanges his artworks for dinner, art supplies and a motorcycle but meets resistance at the bank and post office. Cameras also document Boggs' dogged efforts to retrieve his dollars from the byzantine bureaucracy of the Secret Service in Washington D.C. Along the way, viewers are treated to a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the gallery at the Department of the Treasury where, ironically, 19th-century renditions of American currency, similar to those of Boggs, are on prominent display. At the conclusion, the Secret Service determines that Boggs' artworks are indeed counterfeit and will be retained. The artist is partially vindicated when the Grand Hotel exhibits his work in the lobby together with his room key and bathrobe.