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Armed with razor blade and a fiendish wit, Winston Smith has been kidnapping "innocent" images from the pages of vintage magazines since the 1970s, diabolically gluing them into compromising or politically revealing positions in his surreal collage landscapes.

Smith first came to infamy by way of his hard-hitting political shock piece, Idol: a "bowling trophy-style" Jesus nailed to a cross of dollars that was used for the Dead Kennedys' album In God We Trust, Inc. That album, which was subsequently 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.

Two decades down the line, Winston's style continues to have political punch; but it's also developed an almost classical surrealism.

He recently created the cover for the Tijuana No!'s Contra Revolucion Avenue album. His piece Apocalypse Wow! Was commissioned for SPIN magazine. His debut book, Act like Nothing's Wrong, was published in 1994 by Last Gasp of San Francisco. He recently released his second book, Artcrime.

Smith's work is currently on exhibit at Glama-Rama Salon in San Francisco. Read our listing for more info.

Winston Smith
When the Lights go on Again all Over the World, 2008
Courtesy the artist

View more images! Take a look at Artkrush's most recent slideshow and Activate's The Week in Pictures.