S.M.S. #4 (Deluxe Edition)

The Letter Edged in Black Press produced six issues of a journal called SMS (Shit Must Stop) from February to December 1968. Founded by artists William N. Copley and Dmitri Petrov, the journal was not bound like a traditional magazine but rather took the form of a folder containing individual contributions from more than 70 artists. Each issue of the journal featured items of varying media and formats, including prints, diminutive multimedia works, and sculptures produced in small editions. Employing the postal system as an alternative exhibition format, the series expresses the artists’ desire to share their ideas in novel, frugal, and accessible ways—a playful jab at the restrictive criteria of museums and “high art.”

The Art Institute’s complete set is one of 100 copies of the deluxe version, in which nearly every contribution is signed by its creator. The issues feature pieces by well-known artists like Marcel Duchamp, Ray Johnson, On Kawara, Yoko Ono, Roy Lichtenstein, and Lil Picard, as well as a multitude of unusual, interactive objects including audio recordings, a booklet about bathrooms in art galleries, a folded hat, luggage stickers, a phenakistoscope with instructions for use, and poetry. An unreleased special seventh edition was in the works, with an intended contribution from Dorothy Iannone, now also part of the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection.

SMS (Shit Must Stop) , no. 4, 1968
Cover by Robert Stanley (American, 1932–1997)
Arman Fernandez (American, born France, 1928–2005), Tortured Color
Paul Bergtold (American, b. 1942), Concept: Bergtold
John Cage (American, 1912–1992), Diary: How to Improve the World (you will only make matters worse) continued 1968
Hollis Frampton (American, 1936–1984), Phenakistoscope
On Kawara (American, born Japan, 1933–2014), 100 Year Old Calendar
Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923–1997), Folded Hat
Lil Picard (American, 1899–1994), Burned Bow-tie
Mimmo Rotella (Italian, 1918–2006), 6 Prison Poems
Robert Watts (American, 1923–1988), Parking Meter Sticker
Princess Winifred (American, 20th century), Asylum Manuscripts
La Monte Young (American, born 1935) and Marian Zazeela (American, 1940–2024), Excerpts from “Drift Study 4:37:40–5:09:50 5 VIII 68”