{"id":2511,"date":"2013-12-12T01:56:07","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T06:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/?p=2511"},"modified":"2013-12-05T20:22:59","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T01:22:59","slug":"in-paste-trust-conversation-winston-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/articles\/in-paste-trust-conversation-winston-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"“In Paste We Trust”: A Conversation with Winston Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

by Cory W. Peeke and Nick “NickFRESH” Puzo<\/p>\n

Winston Smith chose his name, a reference to the lead character in George Orwell\u2019s Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/em>, after returning to the United States from Italy in 1976. He had been gone for seven years and was struck by the profound social change that had taken place. While in Italy, the Oklahoma-native studied Renaissance art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and cinema at the International University of Art in Rome and for a few years was a roadie for an Italian jazz band. Back in the United States, he settled in San Francisco and teamed up with artist Jayed Scotti. The duo self-published a satirical fan-zine and made fake posters for bands that didn\u2019t exist. A friend introduced Smith to Jello Biafra, the lead singer of punk rock band Dead Kennedys. The two started collaborating on album covers and poster art for the band. To date, Smith has designed over fifty covers and inserts for such acts as Green Day, Ben Harper, Burning Brides, and George Carlin.<\/p>\n

Kolaj Magazine asked Cory Peeke & Nick \u201cNickFRESH\u201d Puzo to track down this prolific collage artist and ask him to reveal the secrets of his success, his approach to collage making, and the relationship between music and visual imagery.<\/p>\n

\n

PEEKE: You spent time studying art in Italy and have a strong classical training. How did you move from more traditional mediums like painting and drawing into collage?
\nSMITH: I\u2019m blessed to have a minimal skill at drawing, but it takes everything in me to pull off what most other artists just do for fun. I\u2019ve never taken for granted my artistic talents and hope to put them to their best use through creating collage compositions rather than to try to reinvent the wheel by the exclusive pursuit of painting or drawing…For me, collage is both a long and studious process of slow growing ideas, revealing themselves at glacial \"Kitchenspeed. Or, it can be like the sudden spark of a thunderclap that shakes you to your roots…It has helped me to have had a classical education because it gave me constant exposure to images of the past and images that have shaped our global viewpoints. But collage as a medium is something everyone could attempt with the same satisfaction as counting numbers or stringing words together in a sentence. We all have the same number of letters in the Roman alphabet as Shakespeare had to work with so in theory it\u2019s only a matter of application.<\/h2>\n

I regard the medium of collage as a form of \u201cinstant surrealism\u201d. It has great value for people who may never have suspected that they had creative ideas in their hearts or minds that could be expressed. It frees people from the tyranny of classical art training to experience that Eureka! moment that might otherwise require years of study and dedication to achieve.<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To read the entire interview see more images of his work, purchase\u00a0Issue Six<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0SUBSCRIBE<\/a>\u00a0to never miss an issue.<\/p>\n

Image (top)<\/strong>:
\nThe All-Seeing Eye<\/em>
\nby Winston Smith
\n2002
\nImage courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

Image (centre)<\/strong>:
\nKitchen Magic<\/em>
\nby Winston Smith
\nImage courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Cory W. Peeke and Nick “NickFRESH” Puzo Winston Smith chose his name, a reference to the lead character in George Orwell\u2019s Nineteen Eighty-Four, after returning to the United States from Italy in 1976. He had been gone for seven…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,32],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QTD7-Ev","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2289,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/contributors\/cory-w-peeke\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":0},"title":"Cory W. Peeke","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"15 October 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Cory W. Peeke is the Director of the Nightingale Gallery and Associate Professor of Art & Art History at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, Oregon. He received his BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design and his MFA from the University of Idaho. He has exhibited his work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contributors"","block_context":{"text":"Contributors","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/contributors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3096,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/got-a-match-gallery-6-pdx\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":1},"title":"Got a Match? at Gallery 6 PDX","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"17 July 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"1-31 August 2014 Opening reception: Friday, 1 August, 6-8PM \"Got a Match?\" is a group show of\u00a0art made with matches, matchbooks and matchboxes. Featured Artists: Woefoep, Larry Strong,\u00a0Audrey Smith,\u00a0Jenifer Renzel,\u00a0Cory Peeke,\u00a0Donna Eck,\u00a0Mar Goman, and\u00a0Liz Cohn. (courtesy of the gallery) INFORMATION Gallery 6 PDX 131 NE 6th Avenue Portland, Oregon 97232\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/cory-peeke-true-value-at-gallery-6-pdx.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5347,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/cory-peeke-at-lower-columbia-college\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":2},"title":"Cory Peeke at Lower Columbia College","author":"Christopher Byrne","date":"23 October 2016","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Cory Peeke 2 November-1 December 2016 Opening reception: Tuesday, November 1, 4-6PM Cory Peeke says about the work: I'm a collage maker for much the same reason I'm a curator: I love images. This affection has led me to collect remnant imagery; the largely ignored and seemingly inconsequential bits of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/category\/content\/collage-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/cory-peeke-a-rising-tide.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/cory-peeke-a-rising-tide.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/cory-peeke-a-rising-tide.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/cory-peeke-a-rising-tide.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1866,"url":"https:\/\/kolajmagazine.com\/content\/issues\/kolaj-magazine-year-one-collectors-pack\/","url_meta":{"origin":2511,"position":3},"title":"Kolaj Magazine Year One Collector’s Pack","author":"kasini","date":"23 May 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In its first year, Kolaj explored collage\u2019s role in the world of contemporary art; asked the question \u201cIs this collage?\u201d; informed readers about collage exhibitions and events; and, most importantly, shined a spotlight on the work of collage artists from around the world. 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