Washington, D.C.
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
After receiving a BFA from Cooper Union in 1998, he studied at the
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
in 2001.
Career
Apart from his work as role-playing game author and artist Smith is also known as a
hardcore porn
Hardcore pornography, or hardcore porn, is pornography that features detailed depictions of sexual organs or sexual acts such as vaginal, anal or oral intercourse, fingering, anilingus, ejaculation, and fetish play. The term is in contras ...
actor.
Public collections containing Smith's art include the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, the
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
, the
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, to ...
and
Saatchi Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery is a London art gallery, gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, mov ...
. Some of his works are shown on Artsy. Zak Smith is represented by Fredericks & Freiser Gallery in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
Personal life
Smith lived and worked in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
. He was formerly in a long-term relationship with adult industry performer Mandy Morbid. Smith describes himself as an anarchist.
Sexual assault allegations
Due to allegations of abuse by several women including Morbid,
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...
announced in February 2019 they would be removing all references to Smith from the print and digital editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fifth edition.
Kenneth Hite
Kenneth Hite (born September 15, 1965) is a writer and role-playing game designer. Hite is the author of Trail of Cthulhu and Night's Black Agents role-playing games, and lead designer of the 5th edition of ''Vampire: the Masquerade''.
Education ...
, 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
OneBookShelf is a digital marketplace company for both major and indie games, fiction and comics. OneBookShelf was formed by the merger of RPGNow and DriveThruRPG. The company's e-commerce platforms host content from individual sellers, indie cre ...
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
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is an American nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization, the largest in the United States. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, as well as the Department of Defense Safe Helpline ...
. Smith was also banned from attending
Gen Con
Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playin ...
. Smith denied the accusations and filed a defamation lawsuit against Morbid.
Bibliography
Art
* ''Zak Smith: Pictures of Girls'' (New York:
Distributed Art Publishers
D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. is an American company that distributes and publishes books on art, photography, design, and visual culture.Portland, Oregon:
Tin House Books
''Tin House'' is an American book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer of 1998. He enlisted Holly MacArt ...
, 2006).
* ''We Did Porn: Memoir and Drawings''. (Portland, Oregon: Tin House Books, 2009).
* ''The Worst Breakfast'' (illustrator, with writer
China Miéville
China Tom Miéville ( ; born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and literary critic. He often describes his work as '' weird fiction'' and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called '' New Weird''.
M ...
,
Akashic Books
Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher. Akashic Books' collection began with Arthur Nersesian's ''The Fuck Up'' in 1997, and has since expanded to include Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series, Chris Abani's Blac ...
, 2016).
RPGs
* ''Vornheim: The Complete City Kit'' (Lamentations of the Flame Princess, 2011).
* ''A Red & Pleasant Land'' (Lamentations of the Flame Princess, 2014).
* ''Death Frost Doom'' (Lamentations of the Flame Princess, 2014).
* ''Maze of the Blue Medusa'' (with Patrick Stuart, Satyr Press, 2016).
* ''Frostbitten & Mutilated'' (Lamentations of the Flame Princess, 2018).