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.

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 Kennedy's logo and six of their record covers. One of his pieces, 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 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.^[1]

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

Smith was born Patrick Morey and grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He briefly attended Oklahoma Christian University and Central State University (now University of Central Oklahoma). After spending several early student years in Florence, Italy, Smith 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.

Smith 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 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 logo later used by the Dead Kennedys was created in 1979 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.^[2]

Smith married Chick Fontaine in 2006. (Wavy Gravy performed the ceremony, and actor Jim Beaver, Smith's former college roommate, was best man.)^[3]

• 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

• Review - Hidden Wimmin
• Review - Military Industrial Complex
• Review - The People Must Believe...
• Review - On the Threshold of a Dream