Guy de Cointet (1934–1983) was a French-born artist based in California who created text and sculptural works, often combining them as props and stage sets in theatrical performance pieces.

These pieces used found text from popular culture, everyday conversation or literary sources, often creating a humorous, droll, ironic, or melancholic effect.

Silkscreen printed by Pierre Picot, a French artist teaching at CalArts, ACRCIT was distributed for free through newspaper boxes across Los Angeles.

[1] His performance pieces combined literary puzzle or codes and the tropes of TV soap opera, drawing inspiration from the works of Raymond Roussel.

Deak was specifically referring to plays such as Tell Me (1979), in which fashionably attired actresses variously describe a white cardboard square featuring the black capital letters A, D, M, and T.[3] His work has influenced that of Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, and Catherine Sullivan, among others.