Winston Smith (artist)

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See also Winston Smith (disambiguation).

Winston Smith (born 1952) is an artist and anarchist who primarily uses the medium of collage. He is probably best known for the artwork he has produced for the American punk rock group the Dead Kennedys.

He is particularly known for his collaborations with Jello Biafra and Alternative Tentacles who he has done numerous covers, inserts, advertisements, flyers, and logos for. He is responsible for the famous Alternative Tentacles logo as well as the well known Dead Kennedy's logo and six of their record covers. His art has been on the covers of albums by Green Day (Insomniac), among others.

A version of an illustration which had been in the Dead Kennedy's album In God We Trust, Inc., was later featured on the cover of the April/May 2000 The New Yorker magazine. His work has also appeared in Spin, Playboy, Wired Magazine, Utne Reader, and numerous punk fanzines.

Along with John Yates he is one of the best-known graphic artists in the political punk scene.

To date, he has three published collections of his works: Act Like Nothing's Wrong, Artcrime and All Riot on the Western Front.

He spoke with his friend Lori Haigh after she and her San Francisco art gallery was attacked. A video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgpFz86uoS8

Supposedly he met Jello Biafra when Biafra saw creative flyers for fake bands postered across San Francisco at the beginning of the punk rock phenomenon.

His name is a reference to the character of the same name in George Orwell's novel 1984.

[edit] External links

Official site
Alternative Tentacles Records Home of numerous Winston Smith art over the past 25 years.
Winston Smith | MetaFilter MetaFilter post about Winston Smith and his artwork. Also includes brief description of the artist.