Portfolio "Shit Must Stop" SMS #1-6, 1968
Complete set of six portfolios and ephemera in various media
Portfolios: 28 x 18 cm
Boxes: 19,4 x 34,7 cm
Boxes: 19,4 x 34,7 cm
Portfolio 'Shit Must Stop'SMS #1-6, New York, The Letter Edged in Black Press Inc., 1968. The complete set of six portfolios and ephemera in various media, from the edition of...
Portfolio "Shit Must Stop"SMS #1-6, New York, The Letter Edged in Black Press Inc., 1968. The complete set of six portfolios and ephemera in various media, from the edition of 200.
Portfolio 1: Irving Petlin, Su Braden, James Lee Byars, Christo, Walter de Maria, Richard Hamilton, Kaspar Koening, Julien Levy, Sol Mednick, Nancy Reitkopf, La Monte Young & Mariann Zazeela. Portfolio 2: Marcel Duchamp, Nicolas Calas, Bruce Conner, Marcia Herscovitz, Alain Jacquet, Ray Johnson, Lee Lozano, Meret Oppenheim, Bernard Pfreim, George Reavey, Clovis Trouille. Portfolio 3: John Battan, Aftograf, Enrico Baj, William Bryant, Dick Higgins, Joseph Kosuth, Ronnie Landfield, Roland Penrose, Man Ray, H.C. Westermann, Hannah Weiner, Terry Riley reel to reel tape. Portfolio 4: Robert Stanley, Arman, Paul Bergtold, John Cage, Hollis Frampton, On Kawara, Roy Lichtenstein: hat/boat, Lil Picard, Domenico Rotella, Robert Watts, Princess Winifred, La Monte Young reel to reel tape, Marian Zazeela. Portfolio 5: Congo, William Anthony, Wall Batterton, William Copley, Edward Fitzgerald, Neil Jenney, Angus MacLise, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Mel Ramos, Robert Rohm, William Schwedler, Diane Wakoski, Lawrence Weiner. Portfolio 6: Richard Artschwager, Ed Bereal, Deiter Roth, Betty Dodson, Ronoldo Ferri, John Giorno, Toby Mussman, Adrian Nutbeem, Claes Oldenburg, Mischa Petrov, Jean Reavey, Bernar Venet.
Complete set of this rare serial-box surrealist publication conceived by New York artist William N. Copley (1919-1996) and known by the acronym S.M.S. (Shit Must Stop). The work is a series of folders, available by subscription, containing objects and artworks contributed by artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Ray Johnson and Man Ray. As a publication, its mission was to question the notion of art objects as belonging in museums and galleries by bringing the work to the fingertips of the subscribers. S.M.S. was produced in small runs, and the sets Copley, clearly an archivist at heart, donated to the New Museum of Contemporary Art were destroyed in a flood (Heller, 150). So why is this publication important to look at?
Besides the breathtaking images and objects reproduced, Copley has given the subscriber a chance to interact directly with important contemporary artists such as Yoko Ono, Christo and Roy Lichtenstein (among others) and their works, including smashed tubes of paint, audio recordings, drawings, letters and even pill casings. Every aspect of the “magazine” is well designed and faithfully reproduced. The artists included were given only $100 for their contributions (the same as the price of the magazine), but every measure was taken to painstakingly reproduce the work, making the experience of looking through the set an incredibly tactile one.
Photograph of correspondence that William N. Copley selected for his serial-box surrealist publication "S.M.S. (Shit Must Stop)." Many of the documents are related to a Pablo Picasso copyright suit. Copley himself only contributed an artwork once. The folio “The Barber's Shop” shows a series of documents and letters between Maestro Gerhard Nonmemacher, the City of Chicago, and Pablo Picasso regarding a copyright suit between Nonmemacher’s barber shop and the city for reproducing a drawing of Picasso’s public sculpture on his business cards. Nonmemacher writes (and Copley reproduces): “please tell me that you have no objection to my using your lady on the enclosed card, and please tell me that she truly belongs to all the people of Chicago for their use and enjoyment.” Copley’s interest in this case has everything to do with his beliefs about art and democracy, as he was interested in pushing the boundaries of art and the audience’s encounter with objects.
Portfolio 1: Irving Petlin, Su Braden, James Lee Byars, Christo, Walter de Maria, Richard Hamilton, Kaspar Koening, Julien Levy, Sol Mednick, Nancy Reitkopf, La Monte Young & Mariann Zazeela. Portfolio 2: Marcel Duchamp, Nicolas Calas, Bruce Conner, Marcia Herscovitz, Alain Jacquet, Ray Johnson, Lee Lozano, Meret Oppenheim, Bernard Pfreim, George Reavey, Clovis Trouille. Portfolio 3: John Battan, Aftograf, Enrico Baj, William Bryant, Dick Higgins, Joseph Kosuth, Ronnie Landfield, Roland Penrose, Man Ray, H.C. Westermann, Hannah Weiner, Terry Riley reel to reel tape. Portfolio 4: Robert Stanley, Arman, Paul Bergtold, John Cage, Hollis Frampton, On Kawara, Roy Lichtenstein: hat/boat, Lil Picard, Domenico Rotella, Robert Watts, Princess Winifred, La Monte Young reel to reel tape, Marian Zazeela. Portfolio 5: Congo, William Anthony, Wall Batterton, William Copley, Edward Fitzgerald, Neil Jenney, Angus MacLise, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Mel Ramos, Robert Rohm, William Schwedler, Diane Wakoski, Lawrence Weiner. Portfolio 6: Richard Artschwager, Ed Bereal, Deiter Roth, Betty Dodson, Ronoldo Ferri, John Giorno, Toby Mussman, Adrian Nutbeem, Claes Oldenburg, Mischa Petrov, Jean Reavey, Bernar Venet.
Complete set of this rare serial-box surrealist publication conceived by New York artist William N. Copley (1919-1996) and known by the acronym S.M.S. (Shit Must Stop). The work is a series of folders, available by subscription, containing objects and artworks contributed by artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Ray Johnson and Man Ray. As a publication, its mission was to question the notion of art objects as belonging in museums and galleries by bringing the work to the fingertips of the subscribers. S.M.S. was produced in small runs, and the sets Copley, clearly an archivist at heart, donated to the New Museum of Contemporary Art were destroyed in a flood (Heller, 150). So why is this publication important to look at?
Besides the breathtaking images and objects reproduced, Copley has given the subscriber a chance to interact directly with important contemporary artists such as Yoko Ono, Christo and Roy Lichtenstein (among others) and their works, including smashed tubes of paint, audio recordings, drawings, letters and even pill casings. Every aspect of the “magazine” is well designed and faithfully reproduced. The artists included were given only $100 for their contributions (the same as the price of the magazine), but every measure was taken to painstakingly reproduce the work, making the experience of looking through the set an incredibly tactile one.
Photograph of correspondence that William N. Copley selected for his serial-box surrealist publication "S.M.S. (Shit Must Stop)." Many of the documents are related to a Pablo Picasso copyright suit. Copley himself only contributed an artwork once. The folio “The Barber's Shop” shows a series of documents and letters between Maestro Gerhard Nonmemacher, the City of Chicago, and Pablo Picasso regarding a copyright suit between Nonmemacher’s barber shop and the city for reproducing a drawing of Picasso’s public sculpture on his business cards. Nonmemacher writes (and Copley reproduces): “please tell me that you have no objection to my using your lady on the enclosed card, and please tell me that she truly belongs to all the people of Chicago for their use and enjoyment.” Copley’s interest in this case has everything to do with his beliefs about art and democracy, as he was interested in pushing the boundaries of art and the audience’s encounter with objects.
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