Gloom Forever

Gloom Forever is the collected work of the late mythical underground artist Sammy Winston, a prolific fixture of the Bay Area punk, hardcore and graffiti worlds. Sammy’s most notable output was his self-published photocopied fanzines and chapbooks from the early 2000's until his untimely passing in a Los Angeles house fire on July 4, 2015. He embodied subculture and wrote intensely romanticizing the shadowy nature of his excursions on the road and in the after hours underbelly of San Francisco. His provocative collages and notorious Gloom street tag transfixed with highly sensitive and brutally honest musings showcased the war within him.

"Everything that is glorious and everything that is grotesque in the world can be found in its finest form here in those seven little miles that make up San Francisco. This is the greatest place on earth. I was raised here, and I've feasted on all of its dark magic. Dead Kennedys. Altamont. The Zodiac killer. Survival Research Laboratories. Kevin Collins. Patty Hearst. Acid. Graffiti. Anchor Steam. Fillmore. Faith No More. Earthquakes. Creedence Clearwater Revival. San Quentin. Crack. Black Panthers. Skateboarding. Hunter S. Thompson. Jazz. Homosexuality. Kerouac. Fog. Hells Angels. The Weather Underground. The Tenderloin. All that good stuff. When Reagan, as governor, began closing the mental institutions, they used San Francisco as a dumping ground for the mentally ill who no longer had institutions to house them. That's Frisco. This is the place, the epicenter of tragedy and triumph. This is the home of all the dreamers and the crime scene of the death of the dream."