"Montage art is like instant surrealism. If Dr. Frankenstein had worked with paper instead of body parts, he'd have been a collage artist. I use a scalpel, but instead of stitches I use glue." ---Winston Smith, page 22 in "Act Like Nothing's Wrong."
Odds are you have seen Winston Smith's collage art. If you never perused the insane Winston Smith creations on Dead Kennedys' album covers (not to mention the infamous Dead Kennedys' DK logo), you have probably ran across his sweetly twisted magazine art collages somewhere in the media. Chances are you may have seen an image like "Force Fed War" (Mom nursing baby with a fighter aircraft instead of a bottle) or the various Reagan-Ridiculing collages. And there's a good chance you associate these collages with Jello Biafra and The Dead Kennedys, but have never actually heard the name of the creator, Winston Smith.
My case exactly. The Dead Kennedys collage art that stayed cemented in my mind was "The Money Tree" (page 26 in this collection), a collage of exuberant aging suburbanites, dressed in their weekend leisure slacks, harvesting dollar bills from a tree in their backyard. I always found that image simultaneously drop-dead funny and creepy, like a weird scene from a nightmare you had as a child. Eager to find that image again, I did the various web searches to find out what inspired mind came up with these freaky slices of life, and came across these books by Winston Smith.
I expected this book to be a funny collection of pop-art. This book goes way beyond my expectations. Not only are there scores of hysterical collages lambasting the seedy nature behind the nuclear family's jubilant appearance, but you have written commentary by Smith, who delivers a keen and serious attack on modern American society. The combination of his visual wit and his heartfelt criticism of the government (he focuses on our government, but does not let other monolithic empires like China and the former USSR off the hook) drive this work home. This makes for an unlikely but effective mix of wit and condemnation.
It's really strange. I usually can't stand the artistic coffee-house malcontents who drone on and on about the tragedies of consumerism, sell-outs, and suburbia. I find the majority of those I have met to be self-serving critics who will cry over societal ironies, but only to come off as cool and bohemian.
Winston Smith is one major exception to the rule. As I read his commentaries, he probably would take me to task for writing off the angry neo-artists. He would probably also take me to task for being shallow enough to enjoy the fruits of popular TV & media. So.... what is it I find different about Mr. Smith? As I read his quotes, I envision a guy who can find gloom and pathos in modern America, and then tell its story by cutting & pasting magazine illustrations with childlike enthusiasm. Maybe I'm misreading Winston Smith, but I see this energetic workhorse who sees the empire crumbling into oblivion and instead of sobbing over it, he's going to play his fiddle louder, harder, and with sheer reckless abandon.
I love this book. And so should you! Give it a shot.
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