Zak Smith#Career
{{Short description|American artist and pornographic actor}}
{{about-otherpeople|the artist|Zachary Smith}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Zak Smith
| image = Zak Smith.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1976|7|16}}
| birth_place = Syracuse, New York, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| known_for = {{hlist|Art|RPG development}}
| education = Cooper Union
Yale University
| movement =
| notable_works = Girls in the Naked Girl Business
}}
Zak Smith (born July 16, 1976), also known as Zak Sabbath, is an American artist, role-playing game author, and adult film actor.
Early life and education
Smith was born in Syracuse, New York and grew up in Washington, D.C. After receiving a BFA from Cooper Union in 1998, he studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine and went on to receive an MFA from Yale University in 2001.
Career
Apart from his work as role-playing game author and artist Smith is also known as a hardcore porn actor.{{cite web |url=http://thefanzine.com/basement-magic-notes-from-a-new-dd-player-an-interview-with-zak-smith/ |title=Basement Magic: Notes From a New D&D Player & An Interview With Zak Smith |first=Ken |last=Baumann |date=July 24, 2014 |website=TheFanzine.com |access-date=May 28, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/matter/the-best-monster-38461c5cbbf1 |title=The Best Monster |first=Vanessa |last=Veselka |author-link=Vanessa Veselka |date=October 6, 2014 |work=Medium.com |access-date=May 28, 2019}}
Public collections containing Smith's art include the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center and Saatchi Gallery.{{cite web |url=http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=28814 |title=The Collection | Zak Smith (American, born 1976) |publisher=MoMA |year=2004 |access-date=April 19, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://whitney.org/artists/9266 |first=Zak |last=Smith |title=Girls in the Naked Girl Business: Sawa |year=2005 |work=Whitney Museum of American Art |access-date=July 25, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://walkerart.org/collections/artworks/pictures-of-what-happens-on-each-page-of-thomas-pynchons-novel-gravitys-rainbow |first=Zak |last=Smith |title=Pictures of What Happens on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel, Gravity's Rainbow |year=2004 |work=Walker Art Center |access-date=July 25, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/zak_smith_girls_sascha.htm |first=Zak |last=Smith |title=Girls in the Naked Girl Business: Sasha Grey |year=2007 |work=Saatchi Gallery |access-date=March 7, 2019 |archive-date=March 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308080831/https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/zak_smith_girls_sascha.htm |url-status=dead }} Some of his works are shown on Artsy.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-moment-of-friday-artist-zak-smith-metal-band-celtic-frost-20140703-column.html |title=Moment of Friday: Zak Smith picks the metal-est song in the world |first=Carolina A. |last=Miranda |date=July 4, 2014 |newspaper=LA Times |access-date=April 19, 2019}} Zak Smith is represented by Fredericks & Freiser Gallery in New York City.Featured Works [http://www.fredericksfreisergallery.com/artists/zak-smith Fredericks & Freiser Gallery] Retrieved February 28, 2019. He is known for his portraiture in a style that blends influences including abstract painting and comic book art.YABLONSKY, LINDA. "Punk Portraitist: On the Backs of Photographs, Zak Smith Plays with Slick Surfaces to Make Likenesses of Surprising Detail and Depth." ARTNews, vol. 102, no. 8, Sept. 2003, p. 96. These portraits include his series of paintings of strippers, Girls in the Naked Girl Business.Kley, Elisabeth. "Zak Smith." ARTNews, vol. 104, no. 11, Dec. 2005, pp. 146–47.
His work Pictures Showing What Happens on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow is a multimedia composition of 760 drawings, photos, and paintings, one for each page of the novel's first printing. It was exhibited at the 2004 Whitney Biennial and is now owned by the Walker Art Center.Woods, Chris. "Gravity's Rainbow Illustrated: One Picture for Every Page." Chicago Review, vol. 53, no. 2, Autumn, 2007, pp. 202-205,245.
Personal life
Smith lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York until October 2007, when he moved to Los Angeles. He was formerly in a long-term relationship with adult industry performer Mandy Morbid.{{cite news |first=Kimberly |last=Kane |title=Zak Loves Mandy |newspaper=VICE |date=October 16, 2012 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/zak-loves-mandy-0003000-v19n10/ |access-date=January 5, 2015}} Smith describes himself as an anarchist.{{cite news |first=Emilie |last=Trice |title=Anarchy in the U.K. |quote=This month, the 31-year-old artist, anarchist and porn star has a solo show at Fred in London. |newspaper=artnet.de |date=October 15, 2007 |url=http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/trice/trice10-15-07.asp |access-date=January 5, 2015}}{{cite news |first=Zing |last=Tsjeng |title=Stoya selects Zak Smith |quote=The self-described anarchist landed his monumental page-for-page artistic interpretation of Gravity's Rainbow in the Whitney Biennal at 28, then landed his first adult film role in Barbed Wire Kiss. |newspaper=Dazed Digital |date=July 28, 2014 |url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/20973/1/stoya-selects-zak-smith |access-date=January 5, 2015}}{{cite web |first=David Paul |last=Hellings |url=https://www.sffworld.com/2015/09/an-interview-with-zak-s/ |title=An Interview with Zak S |website=SFF World |date=September 13, 2015 |access-date=March 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302024518/https://www.sffworld.com/2015/09/an-interview-with-zak-s/ |archive-date=March 2, 2019 |url-status=live }}
Sexual abuse allegations
Due to allegations of abuse by several women including Morbid, Wizards of the Coast announced in February 2019 they would be removing all references to Smith from the print and digital editions of Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition.{{cite web |first=Charlie |last=Hall |url=https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2019/2/20/18232181/dungeons-dragons-zak-smith-sabbath-abuse-accusations-players-handbook |title=Dungeons & Dragons publisher scrubs contributor from handbook amid abuse allegations |website=Polygon |date=February 20, 2019 |access-date=March 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228004142/https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2019/2/20/18232181/dungeons-dragons-zak-smith-sabbath-abuse-accusations-players-handbook |archive-date=February 28, 2019 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Arndt |first1=Dan |title=New Allegations Against Zak Smith Spotlight Rampant Harassment In The RPG Industry |url=https://www.thefandomentals.com/new-allegations-against-zak-smith-spotlight-rampant-harassment-in-the-rpg-industry/ |access-date=2019-04-24 |work=The Fandomentals |date=15 February 2019}}{{cite web |last1=H |first1=Brook |title=Tabletop RPG Community Boycotts Zak Smith |url=https://popcultureuncovered.com/2019/02/15/tabletop-rpg-community-snubs-zak-smith/ |website=Pop Culture Uncovered |language=en |date=15 February 2019}}{{cite news |title=411MANIA |url=https://411mania.com/games/wizards-of-the-coast-statement-dd-5e-contributor-zak-smith-abuse-allegations/ |access-date=4 July 2020 |work=Wizards of the Coast Issues Statement About D&D 5E Contributor Zak Smith Following Abuse Allegations |archive-date=July 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704232630/https://411mania.com/games/wizards-of-the-coast-statement-dd-5e-contributor-zak-smith-abuse-allegations/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |last1=Sheehan |first1=Gavin |title=Dungeons & Dragons Issues a Statement on the Zak Smith Situation |url=https://bleedingcool.com/games/dungeons-dragons-issues-a-statement-on-the-zak-smith-situation/ |access-date=4 July 2020 |work=Bleeding Cool News And Rumors |date=19 February 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Hoffer |first1=Christian |title='Dungeons & Dragons' Releases Statement on Zak Smith |url=https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dungeons-and-dragons-zak-smith-statement/ |access-date=4 July 2020 |work=comicbook.com |language=en}} Kenneth Hite, a former RPG collaborator, apologized to the women and said he would donate the proceeds from their upcoming book to a non-profit addressing domestic violence. OneBookShelf announced it would no longer work with Smith and would donate revenue generated from existing titles with Smith to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Smith was also banned from attending Gen Con. Smith denied the accusations and filed a defamation lawsuit against Morbid.{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Zak |title=The Statement |url=https://officialzsannouncements.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-statement.html |website=Official Z Announcements |language=en |date=13 February 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Zak |title=Im Suing |url=https://officialzsannouncements.blogspot.com/2019/06/im-suing.html |website=Official Z Announcements |language=en |date=12 June 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Girdwood |first1=Andrew |title=Backlisted RPG designer's defamation case forces ex-girlfriend into crowdfunding |url=https://www.geeknative.com/69638/backlisted-rpg-designers-defamation-case-forces-ex-girlfriend-into-crowdfunding/ |access-date=4 July 2020 |work=Geek Native |date=29 November 2019}}
Bibliography
= Art =
- Zak Smith: Pictures of Girls (New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2005). {{ISBN|978-1-933045-22-1}}
- Pictures Showing What Happens on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow (graphic representation of novel/illustration) (Portland, Oregon: Tin House Books, 2006). {{ISBN|0-9773127-9-8}}
- We Did Porn: Memoir and Drawings. (Portland, Oregon: Tin House Books, 2009). {{ISBN|978-0-9802436-8-0}}
- The Worst Breakfast (illustrator, with writer China Miéville, Akashic Books, 2016). {{ISBN|978-1-6177548-6-9}}
= RPGs =
- Vornheim: The Complete City Kit (Lamentations of the Flame Princess, 2011). {{ISBN|978-9-5259042-4-6}}
- A Red & Pleasant Land (Lamentations of the Flame Princess, 2014). {{ISBN|978-9-5259046-0-4}}
- Death Frost Doom (Lamentations of the Flame Princess, 2014). {{ISBN|978-9-5259048-3-3}}
- Maze of the Blue Medusa (with Patrick Stuart, Satyr Press, 2016). {{ISBN|978-0-9832437-5-5}}
- Frostbitten & Mutilated (Lamentations of the Flame Princess, 2018). {{ISBN|978-9-5272380-2-8}}
Awards
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|nm2280859|Zak Sabbath}}
- {{IAFD name|id=zaksabbath|gender=male|name=Zak Sabbath}}
- [https://www.rpggeek.com/rpgdesigner/39331/zak-smith-i Zak Smith] at rpggeek.com
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Zak}}
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:21st-century American painters
Category:21st-century American male artists
Category:American male painters
Category:American male pornographic film actors
Category:Artists from Syracuse, New York
Category:Indie role-playing game designers
Category:American erotic artists
Category:20th-century American male artists