by Blogbot
Artist / SG Member Name: Zak Smith / ZakSmith
Mission Statement: I hate it when you’re eating a cheeseburger and then the chef comes out of the kitchen interrupts you eating and goes, “Oh now let me tell you a little bit about why I made a cheeseburger.” Oh wait, I don’t hate that. Because it never happens. Because they never do that. Because that would be stupid.
Medium: Acrylic on paper for the paintings. Ink on paper for the black-and-whites.
Aesthetic: Maximalist.
Notable Achievements: I have a painting in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and it’s a Suicide Girl — Charlie. I drew one picture for every page of Gravity’s Rainbow. I did an illustrated book of true stories about me working in the adult film industry called We Did Porn. I painted 100 Girls and 100 Octopuses and Charles Saatchi bought it and I know that plural is actually grammatically accurate thanks to friends I made 8 years ago on Suicide Girls. Honey Manko Suicide once called me crass.
Why We Should Care: Because throughout a decade of long disconnection and difficult-to-pin-down multimicronichefamousness SuicideGirls is the closest thing to a home I’ve ever had. And even though I went to Yale, been to a million art dinners, and have watched Sasha Grey lick my cum off another girl’s ass, I can still say to this day that most of the smartest, prettiest, and least sane people I’ve ever met and most of my best models are from this little pink pin-up girl website. Actually, that’s why I should care, isn’t it? I don’t know why you should care.
I Want Me Some: My last two books — Gravity’s Rainbow and We Did Porn were published by Tin House Books, my first one, Pictures Of Girls, was with DAP. Both are available through the usual on-line channels and by harassing finer art-book stores near you. The SG store used to sell some very nice full-size posters of my Charlie and Sawa paintings. If you complain a lot they might do some more. My site is www.zaxart.com.