S.M.S.(Shit Must Stop), 5 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. #5 Colophon Loose Leaf – 1968 Congo: Cover Design, painted by Congo the Chimpanzee, 11 x 14 inches William Anthony: Custer’s Last Stand, inside cover design, 11 x 14 inches Wall Batterton: Splendid Person, photograph and text on cardstock, 9 7/8 x 6 5/8 inches William Copley: The Barber’s Shop, dossier, correspondences and newspaper clippings, 10 x 6 3/4 inches (closed) Edward Fitzgerald: 24 Still Lives, 24 color stamps, 10 3/8 x 7 3/8 inches Neil Jenney: Bucks American, four drawings stapled together, 8 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches Angus MacLise: The Inner Pages, 20-page booklet, 6 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches Bruce Nauman: Footsteps, recorded magnetic tape wound around instructions for use, 2 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches (folded) Yoko Ono: Mend Piece for John, box containing materials and instructions for mending a broken cup, 6 1/8 x 6 1/4 inches (contained) Mel Ramos: Candy, ink on heavy paper, 10 7/8 x 13 7/8 (Unfolded) Robert Rohm: Cut Corners, ink on heavy paper and three foldable structures, 6 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches (variable) William Schwedler: Against The Grain, three-dimensional assemblage, 10 5/8 x 6 3/4 inches (folded) Diane Wakoski: The Magellanic Clouds, photographic print impressed with grooves to be played as a record, 6 7/8 x 7 inches Lawrence Weiner: Turf, stake and String, clear vinyl sticker sheet, 6 1/4 x 8 5/8 inches. S. M. S. #5, Notes: Unlike the previous issues, S. M. S. #5 doesn’t appear to be projecting a specific sensibility upon the reader, thus making it seem more disparate than the others. This seems to be best exemplified by Yoko Ono’s contribution, entitled Mend Piece for John, which instructs, “Take your favorite cup. Break it in many pieces with a hammer. Repair it with this glue and this poem.” Included is a cardboard box containing a ribbon, plastic bag, instructions, a poem, and a tube of glue. Although Ono created this piece years before the Beatles disbanded, it seems almost premonitive of the years to come. Another similarly disparate piece from this issue is the front cover, which was painted by Congo, the chimpanzee, for a study of the creative potential of apes. It has been noted that Congo was the only chimpanzee who appeared to make aesthetic decisions about his painting, and thus could be featured along side these other artists for the issue. Like Ono’s piece, Congo’s painting seems eerily foreboding with its large red and black smears of paint.