S.M.S.(Shit Must Stop), 2 by William Copley and Dmitri Petrov

S.M.S.(Shit Must Stop), was a 6-issue art journal published by William Copley and Dmitri Petrov's Letter Edged in Black Press. Copley and Petrov included works by some of the most important artists of the time, who were paid just $100 for their contributions. Copley gave them free reign to create an artwork in any medium they wished, which he then then reproduced in an edition of 2000. The journal ran for just 6 issues. S. M. S. #2 Colophon Loose Leaf – 1968 Marcel Duchamp: Cover, Record, remove to play, 11 x 7 inches closed Nicolas Calas: Cynocephalus & Co., Silkscreen on Mylar, 18 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches Bruce Conner: Legal Tender, green and black ink on paper, 6 1/8 x 2 5/8 inches Marcia Herscovitz: Ten Collages, ten photo collages printed front and back, 6 x 4 1/2 inches (variable) Alain Jacquet: Three Color Seperations, silkscreen on Mylar, 9 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches Ray Johnson: A Two-Year-Old Girl Choked to Death Today on an Easter Egg, three photographs printed on a single sheet of paper, 10 3/4 x 6 5/8 inches Lee Lozano: Thesis (All Men are Hardly Created Equal), illustrated bound notebook with ribbon, 3 x 4 3/4 inches Meret Oppenheim: The Mirror of Genoveva, debossed print, 10 x 6 3/4 inches Bernard Pfreim: A Proposed Comic Section for the New York Times, full sized comic spread, 24 x 32 inches (six pages) George Reavey, Farewell to Faust, poem printed on tissue encased in silkscreened cardstock, 6 3/4 x 37 inches Clovis Trouille: Album, photo album containing 16 paintings, 11 x 6 1/2 inches S. M. S. #2, Notes: This second issue of S. M. S. seems more experimental than the first. The cover, designed by chairman of DADA, Marcel Duchamp, is a white folder with a playable record album attached to the front. Printed on the record itself is ESQUIVONS LES ECCHYMOSES DES ESQUIMAUX AUX MOTS EXQUIS, which roughly translates to “dodge the Eskimo bruises with exquisite words,” but functions as a sort of French tongue twister. Duchamp seems to be playfully addressing the restrictions inherent in more traditional portfolio design in order to redefine this practice. The record has aesthetic appeal, but it similarly has far greater use value than the first issue’s front cover, which was a reproduction of a painting. Another particularly provocative work in S. M. S. #2 is Bruce Connor’s Legal Tender. Connor mimics the design of American currency with his stack of eighteen “dollar bills,” which seem more reminiscent of Monopoly money than American legal tender. This element allows for the whole issue to feel like a game, as if you could trade Connor’s money for something more valuable.