Zak Smith is a young, hard-working star of the fine art world, porn actor andpublished author.  It's goes without saying that this is one busy guy. A good friend and talented young artist by the name of Marissa Olneyrecently introduced me to Zak and I found himto be a very funny and genuine person.  So much so, in fact, that Iwanted to learn more about this talented and intriguing individual. Therefore, I asked Marissa if she would be interested in sitting downwith me and Zak for a few questions about hisartwork, porn career, published writings and anything else that mightcome up in such a conversation.  And, with the recent publication ofhis new book, "We Did Porn",I figured it was a good time to find out what else he has been up toand what the future holds for this very unique individual.

A&M:In an interview in one of your previous books, "Pictures of Girls", yousaid art making is 1000 choices per minute.  From reading "We Did Porn"it seems as though porn making is the direct antithesis (look here, cumthere, stop, start, go, etc).  What are your feelings on this dichotomy?

Z: Having sex is always better than making art--or anything else--buthaving sex however you want is usually better than having sex witheight bored people staring at you and a stubbly guy with a steadycamtelling you how that was great but can we get another insert shot?

I feel like maybe this is not something Juxtapoz readers will be surprised to hear.

A&M:You seem to be quite the modern renaissance man in your way; artist,pornstar and now published author.  Has writing always been part ofyour artistic practice?

Z: I've always written things down, I just don't like putting the writing anywhere near the art.

I think it's kind of cheating.  There are a lot of people in the artaudience who don't actually like art, but have some sort of class- orstatus- or based feeling like they SHOULD like art.  So, in order tocater to these jackasses, people who sell art usually prepackage itwith writing which tells them why they should like the art and whatthey should see in it.

You can't pick up a book about LeonardoDa Vinci without a chunk of it being devoted to some academic ramblingon about what the art means or where it came from, and you can't have ashow in a gallery without writing up some press release alleging thatyou "deconstruct normalizing assumptions about the interpenetration ofgender roles" or whatever.  It's like saying, "Here's my art, but, ifyou don't like it, well, here's a bunch of reasons you really should." Can you imagine, say, a chef doing that?  You don't like thosesausages?  But the oven was hand-fired in the desert by Hopi Indiansand the pig won the Iowa State Swine Show three years running!

Which is all to say, I want people to feel like they can just look at the artand look at the writing and decide whether they like both or either orneither, rather than having one provide "context" for the other.

A&M: How did you get into the paint slingin' business?  When, where, how and why did this torrid love affair start?

Z: Everybody makes art when they're a little kid--then at some point they stop.  I just didn't stop.

A&M: Who influenced you as a young artist?

Z: Unicron, mostly--that scene in Transformers the Movie where he shows up and eats that planet full of robots. 

A&M:After already having achieved a successful career in the fine artworld, what lead to the decision to become a porn actor?  Was itconnected in any way to the fact that your girlfriend is Mandy Morbid,a well known porn star?

Z: No, I was in porn before Mandy.  I became a porn actor becausesomebody gave me the opportunity to, basically.  Call me crazy, butwhen someone walks up to my front door and says "Hey, I got all thispussy here, do you want it?"  I'm generally gonna say "Yes". 

A&M: Speaking of Mandy Morbid, you two have been together for awhile now and you seem to make quite a good team.  What impact have youseen her having on your life as an artist?

Z: She isinifinitely inspiring and the work that I've done since I met her isinfused with a quality...a kind of spirit...that I never managed toachieve in anything before.  Actually, no.  I just figured she'd likeit if I said that.  Actually, not even--she's not that stupid. 

A&M:I have heard that you have an amazing comic book collection, fromunderground to mainstream.  What do comic books as an art form mean toyou and how, if at all, have they influenced your work as an artist.

Z: My collection's pretty small, actually--I just buy ones withgood art.  I think, basically, a lot of the best art that's been madesince mid-century has been made by comic book artists.  Thecontemporary art world ignores them because if they admitted that, say,Jack Kirby was a Real Artist,then that would mean that somebody like Roy Lichtenstein was justcopying a fellow Real Artist rather than Cleverly AppropriatingElements of Pop Culture for Alternative (and Higher) Purposes.  Andthey can't admit that because then a lot of rich collectors would havethese Roy Lichtenstein paintings that're just really big Jack Kirbypanels that are suddenly worthless.  So comic book artists are a bunchof guys (and a few girls) making art on tight deadlines and gettingignored and underpaid in order to keep the fiction that they're justAnonymous Agents of Pop culture alive. 

A&M: What artists working today do you love, respect or at least appreciate on some level?

Z:Nicholas DiGenova, Sean McCarthy, Phil Frost, Shawn Cheng, NickWaplington, Tim Hawkinson, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Gordon Terry,Anthony Lister, Jacob Hashimoto, Ian Miller...you realize we could behere all day, right?

A&M:Have you ever painted or written something and thought, "This might beone of the most important things I will ever create."?  Or do you findwhatever you are working on currently to hold the most value for you?

Z: I am usually trying to make the new thing work, whatever that is. Then it's finished and I forget about it and do the next thing.  Thenmaybe I look at it a year later and go--Hey, look at that, that's notso bad... 

A&M:I've noticed on your online sketchbook some of your drawings havebecome more surreal and accompanied by quotes from the Bible.  Is therea story behind this new stuff that you'd care to share with us?

Z: No, but I will say this: religion is dumb. 

A&M:You must be very excited about the recent publication of your new book,"We Did Porn".  How has the response been thus far?  What do you havecoming up for us next as far as art shows, films, books or anythingelse you would care to reveal about your future creative endeavors?

Z:All the reviews have been good, though most of them--especially theones in art and literary magazines--start with "I expected this book tobe terrible, but...".  So if you think you might like the book, readit, and if you don't think you'll like it, then you should definitely read it.  As far as next?  Well, I've got a lot of paintings to do.  There's some stuff coming up, but nothing I can talk about. 

A&M: Oh...one last thing...what's in your CD player right now?

Samael"Ceremony of Opposites", The Sword "Gods Of The Earth", Neurosis "SoulsAt Zero", Screeching Weasel "Anthem For A New Tomorrow" and anaudiobook of "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" by David FosterWallace.  On shuffle.