WINSTON SMITH: “Punk Art Surrealist” Brings "Graphic Anarchy" to London

WINSTON SMITH: “Punk Art Surrealist” Brings "Graphic Anarchy" to London | Orbital Comics Dirty Water Records - May 18, 2018 16:46 BST This news item contains embedded media. Open the news item in your browser to see the content. WINSTON SMITH IN LONDON THIS SATURDAY -  ONE NIGHT ONLY!  A master of "hand-carved" collage, Winston has been crafting his thought-provoking art since the 1970s.  Open embedded media in the browser After being abroad for nearly seven years, Winston returned -to America in 1976 and was astonished by the complacency the American public exhibited toward the predominate role of corporate enterprise. He took notice of the safe and "happy" icons of 1940s & 1950s magazine ads and created politically charged works of art that challenge the viewer to confront the incongruities and political paradoxes of modern society.  Not long after, his collaborations with punk legends Dead Kennedys became widely known and his art beloved for its humor and social commentary. His album covers, inserts and flyers for the band served as a beacon for burgeoning political artists and culture critics.  His technique of cutting out by hand and and gluing each individual element has inspired a generation of artists. In 1981, his political shock piece, Idol (originally conceived in 1977) brazenly adorned the Dead Kennedys album, "In God We Trust, Inc." That album, banned in England and condemned by the American religious right, landed Smith and Dead Kennedys a permanent spot in the punk culture "Hall of Shame." Even more infamously, the "DK" logo that Smith designed for the band remains the international symbol of protest against authoritarianism, and has been carved on school desks and park benches, spray-painted on walls, immortalized in sidewalk cement and tattooed on skin all over the world since its conception in 1980. Smith is also responsible for the famous Alternative Tentacles logo for frontman Jello Biafra's record label.  The visual left hooks that Smith threw into the underground punk scene in the 1970s and `80s have since impacted a much wider audience world wide. He has designed over 50 album covers for such bands and cultural icons as Green Day, Burning Brides, Ben Harper, George Carlin and many more... IN LONDON FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY AT ORBITAL COMICS MORE INFO: WinstonSmith.com