Winston Smith (artist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also Winston Smith (disambiguation).

Winston Smith (born May 27, 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.

Winston 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.

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

[edit] Life & work

Smith was born Patrick Morey and grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After spending his early student years in Florence, Italy, Winston moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a roadie for Studio Instrument Rentals and such bands as Journey, CSN&Y The Tubes, Santana and others in the 1970s. Winston met fellow artist Jayed Scotti in 1976 and the two worked together, producing their self published magazine Fallout, a satirical pulp zine, illustrated and written by the two. They also distributed fake posters for non existent bands and clubs in San Francisco - the addresses listed on the flyer often located in the Pacific Ocean.

The IDOL or Cross of Money logo later used by the Dead Kennedys was created in 1979 in the Fairfax studio of Fallout , as a comment on religious hypocricy and the worship of money. This was a 3D art piece, fashioned from a real crucifix. Later it was remade as a early color photocopy and submitted to a Berkeley Photocopy show. A friend of Jello Biafra told him of the piece , and later Winston sent him samples of his work. This was the beginnings of the collaboration by Winston and Jayed with the Dead Kennedys. Jayed later became the drummer for The Feederz.

He married Chick Fontaine in 2006. (Wavy Gravy performed the ceremony.)

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

[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.
Interview with Lori Haigh after she and her San Francisco art gallery was attacked