MEDIUM Art Center presents “It’s Always Something, Ain’t It?” — The Surreal and Satirical Art of Winston Smith
Opening Reception: Friday, November 7, 2025, 5–8 p.m.
Location: MEDIUM Art Center, 110 S. School Street, Ukiah, California
MEDIUM Art Center is proud to present It’s Always Something, Ain’t It?, a solo exhibition featuring the provocative collage work of punk surrealist Winston Smith. The exhibition opens during the First Friday Art Walk on November 7, 2025, from 5 to 8 p.m., with light refreshments, wine, and beer available by donation.
Winston Smith, a legendary collage artist and illustrator, is best known for creating the iconic Dead Kennedys logo and album artwork. His influence extends across decades of punk, pop, and political art. Smith’s intricate, hand-cut compositions have appeared on more than 50 record covers, including Green Day’s Insomniac, and in publications such as The New Yorker, Playboy, Spin, Vice, and Mother Jones.
Trained in classical Renaissance art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Smith blends old-world craftsmanship with biting social commentary. His surreal dreamscapes, cut from vintage Americana, Victoriana, and mid-century ephemera, warp the familiar into the absurd. The results are darkly funny, politically charged, and distinctly human.
Smith’s collaborations with punk legend Jello Biafra and Alternative Tentacles Records cemented his place as a visual architect of punk culture. Beyond album art, his work has graced book covers, including Greg Palast’s The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, and has been featured in art history texts as a defining example of 20th-century collage.
It’s Always Something, Ain’t It? invites viewers to confront the absurdities of modern life through the lens of a true punk surrealist. The exhibition runs through November 29, 2025.
Opening reception: Friday, November 7th, 2025, 5:00-8:00 PM PDT.
The show runs through Saturday, November 29th, 2025.
Medium Art Center - 110 South School Street, Ukiah
