Winston Smith (artist)
Encyclopedia
Winston Smith is an artist who primarily uses the medium of collage
. He is probably best known for the artwork he has produced for the American punk rock
group Dead Kennedys
. He also designed the Motéma Music
logo.
Smith is particularly known for his collaborations with Jello Biafra
and Alternative Tentacles
, for whom he has done numerous covers, inserts, advertisements, flyers, and logos. He is responsible for the famous Alternative Tentacles logo as well as the well-known Dead Kennedys logo and six of their record covers. One of his compositions, God Told Me to Skin You Alive, was used as the cover of Green Day
's album Insomniac.
A version of an illustration which had been on the back cover of the Biafra/D.O.A. album Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors
was later featured on the cover of the April/May 2000 issue of The New Yorker
magazine. His work has also appeared in Spin
, Playboy
, Wired
, Utne Reader
, Mother Jones
, Ugly Planet
, National Lampoon, and numerous punk fanzines, such as Maximumrocknroll, Seconds, Punk Planet
, etc.
His name is a reference to the character of the same name
in George Orwell
's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
. Smith left the U.S. in 1969 to study art in Italy and, struck by the profound social changes that had occurred during his absence from the U.S., adopted the name after returning to America in 1976.
In Italy, Smith attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence studying classical Renaissance art and later won a scholarship to study Cinema at the International University of Art (Florence & Rome). For a few years he traveled throughout Italy, roadie-ing for well-known Italian jazz band Perigeo. Over the last 30 years, Winston has had numerous one-man shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, London, Antwerp, Berlin and Rome.
His work has been included in numerous books chronicling the punk rock era as well as having his work included in art text books plus several book covers, such as Greg Palast
's best-sellers "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
" and "Armed Madhouse". In addition, Winston has designed over 50 record covers including covers and insert art for Jello Biafra
, Burning Brides
, George Carlin
and Ben Harper
.
. He briefly attended (two months) Oklahoma Christian College
and Central State University
. After spending nearly seven years in Florence, Italy, Smith moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a roadie for numerous San Francisco bands such as Journey
, CSN&Y, The Tubes
, Santana
and others in the 1970s.
The IDOL or Cross of Money image (later used for the Dead Kennedys
first EP album "In God We Trust, Inc.
.") was created in 1977 in the Fairfax studio of Fallout, as a comment on religious hypocrisy and the worship of money. This was a 3D art piece, fashioned from a real crucifix. Later it was remade as an early color photocopy and submitted to a Berkeley Photocopy show. A friend of Jello Biafra
told him of the piece, and later Smith sent him samples of his work. This was the beginnings of the collaboration of Smith and Scotti with the Dead Kennedys. Scotti later became the drummer for The Feederz
.
To date, Smith has three published collections of his works: Act Like Nothing's Wrong, Artcrime and All Riot on the Western Front.
performed the ceremony, and actor Jim Beaver
, Smith's former college roommate, was best man.) Smith has blue eyes and grey hair. He speaks fluent Italian. Smith likes animal cracker
s.
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
. He is probably best known for the artwork he has produced for the American punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
group Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
. He also designed the Motéma Music
Motéma Music
Motéma Music is an American record label focused on jazz and world music, as well as other creative projects by virtuosic musicians who also compose. It was founded by Jana Herzen in 2003, and is now based in Harlem, New York City...
logo.
Smith is particularly known for his collaborations with Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
and Alternative Tentacles
Alternative Tentacles
Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label originally based in San Francisco, California and was established in 1979. It was originally used as the label name by the Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single "California Über Alles", and after realizing the potential for an independent...
, for whom he has done numerous covers, inserts, advertisements, flyers, and logos. He is responsible for the famous Alternative Tentacles logo as well as the well-known Dead Kennedys logo and six of their record covers. One of his compositions, God Told Me to Skin You Alive, was used as the cover of Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
's album Insomniac.
A version of an illustration which had been on the back cover of the Biafra/D.O.A. album Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors is a 1989 punk rock album born out of a collaboration between two punk stalwarts, Jello Biafra and Vancouver, Canada band D.O.A....
was later featured on the cover of the April/May 2000 issue of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
magazine. His work has also appeared in Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
, Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
, Utne Reader
Utne Reader
Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...
, Mother Jones
Mother Jones (magazine)
Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
, Ugly Planet
Ugly Planet
Ugly Planet is a music culture magazine dedicated to documenting artists who support innovation, diversity, equality, justice and social introspection. Ugly Planet seeks artists who endeavor to enlighten or engender political or social change....
, National Lampoon, and numerous punk fanzines, such as Maximumrocknroll, Seconds, Punk Planet
Punk Planet
Punk Planet was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music, Punk Planet also covered visual arts and a wide...
, etc.
His name is a reference to the character of the same name
Winston Smith
Winston Smith is a fictional character and the protagonist of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The character was employed by Orwell as an everyman in the setting of the novel, a "central eye ... [the reader] can readily identify with"...
in George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
. Smith left the U.S. in 1969 to study art in Italy and, struck by the profound social changes that had occurred during his absence from the U.S., adopted the name after returning to America in 1976.
In Italy, Smith attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence studying classical Renaissance art and later won a scholarship to study Cinema at the International University of Art (Florence & Rome). For a few years he traveled throughout Italy, roadie-ing for well-known Italian jazz band Perigeo. Over the last 30 years, Winston has had numerous one-man shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, London, Antwerp, Berlin and Rome.
His work has been included in numerous books chronicling the punk rock era as well as having his work included in art text books plus several book covers, such as Greg Palast
Greg Palast
Gregory Allyn Palast is a New York Times-bestselling author and a freelance journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation as well as the British newspaper The Observer. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but has also been known to work with labor unions and consumer...
's best-sellers "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy is a 2002 book written by investigative journalist Greg Palast. It is about corporate corruption, global capitalism, environmental destruction, third world exploitation, freedom of speech and political corruption, and the United States presidential election of 2000...
" and "Armed Madhouse". In addition, Winston has designed over 50 record covers including covers and insert art for Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
, Burning Brides
Burning Brides
Burning Brides is an American hard rock band. They are partially known for their live performances, such as in 2000 playing selected dates as the opening band for The White Stripes...
, George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
and Ben Harper
Ben Harper
Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents...
.
Early life
Smith was born James Patrick Shannon Morey and grew up in Oklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...
. He briefly attended (two months) Oklahoma Christian College
Oklahoma Christian University
Oklahoma Christian University is a private comprehensive coeducational Christian liberal arts university founded in 1950 by members of the churches of Christ. OC is located on a campus in Oklahoma City. Enrollment for the fall 2011 semester numbered 2,194, which included 1,854 undergraduate and...
and Central State University
University of Central Oklahoma
The University of Central Oklahoma, often referred to as UCO, is a coeducational public university located in Edmond, Oklahoma. The university is the third largest in Oklahoma, with almost 18,000 students and approximately 434 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty...
. After spending nearly seven years in Florence, Italy, Smith moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a roadie for numerous San Francisco bands such as Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
, CSN&Y, The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
, Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
and others in the 1970s.
Career
Smith met fellow artist Jayed Scotti in 1976 and the two collaborated on several projects, producing their self-published magazine Fallout, a satirical pulp-zine, illustrated and written by the duo. They also distributed false posters for non-existent bands and clubs in San Francisco, with the addresses listed on the flyer often located in the Pacific Ocean.The IDOL or Cross of Money image (later used for the Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
first EP album "In God We Trust, Inc.
In God We Trust, Inc.
In God We Trust, Inc. is a hardcore punk EP by the Dead Kennedys; it is now reissued with the Plastic Surgery Disasters album. The thrashing, lightning-fast beats and shouted vocals, on the first six tracks, resembles Washington D.C.'s punk bands of the time; more than on any other Dead Kennedys...
.") was created in 1977 in the Fairfax studio of Fallout, as a comment on religious hypocrisy and the worship of money. This was a 3D art piece, fashioned from a real crucifix. Later it was remade as an early color photocopy and submitted to a Berkeley Photocopy show. A friend of Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
told him of the piece, and later Smith sent him samples of his work. This was the beginnings of the collaboration of Smith and Scotti with the Dead Kennedys. Scotti later became the drummer for The Feederz
The Feederz
Feederz were a punk rock band from Arizona. They were known for their song Jesus Entering from the Rear, which featured on Alternative Tentacles', their Let Them Eat Jellybeans compilation, and for their provocative album covers. Feederz had strong Situationist tendencies, verging into communism...
.
To date, Smith has three published collections of his works: Act Like Nothing's Wrong, Artcrime and All Riot on the Western Front.
Personal life
Smith married Chick Fontaine in 2006. (Wavy GravyWavy Gravy
Wavy Gravy is an American entertainer and activist for peace, best known for his hippie appearance, personality and beliefs. His moniker...
performed the ceremony, and actor Jim Beaver
Jim Beaver
James Norman "Jim" Beaver, Jr. is an American stage, film, and television actor, playwright, screenwriter, and film historian...
, Smith's former college roommate, was best man.) Smith has blue eyes and grey hair. He speaks fluent Italian. Smith likes animal cracker
Animal cracker
Animal crackers are crackers in the shapes of animals, some brands of which are sweetened. These are usually animals one would see at the zoo or circus, including lions, tigers, bears, and elephants....
s.
External links
- Official site
- Alternative Tentacles Records Home of numerous Winston Smith art over the past 28 years.
- Winston Smith |MetaFilter MetaFilter post about Winston Smith and his artwork. Also includes brief description of the artist.
- Documentary film featuring Winston Smith
- Letter from Winston Smith to a fan in 1997