Zak Smith | |
|---|---|
 Zak Smith in 2005 | |
| Born | Syracuse, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Cooper Union Yale University |
| Known for |
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| Notable work | Girls in the Naked Girl Business |
Zak Smith, also known as Zak Sabbath, is an American artist, role-playing game author, and adult film actor.
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. [1]
Apart from his work as role-playing game author and artist Smith is also known as a hardcore porn actor. [2]
Smith is known for his portraiture in a style that blends influences including abstract painting and comic book art. [3] These portraits include his series of paintings of strippers, Girls in the Naked Girl Business. [4] Some of his works are shown on Artsy. [5]
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. [6]
Smith entered the pornography industry through the 2006 movie, Barbed Wire Kiss. [7] The director, Benny Profane, had asked to use one of Smith's Gravity's Rainbow paintings in the movie and gave Smith a small role in exchange. [8] [9]
Smith has written for role-playing games such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Demon City, the Cube World series of adventures, I Am the Weapon, and Places to Go, People to Be. [10] Several of his contributions received awards, including multiple ENnies for various Lamentations of the Flame Princess products. [11] [12] [13]
In February 2019, due to allegations of sexual abuse by several women including Mandy Morbid, [2] [14] [15] Wizards of the Coast announced that they would be removing all references to Smith from the print and digital editions of Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition, OneBookShelf announced it would no longer work with Smith, and he was also banned from attending Gen Con. [2] [16] [17] Smith denied the accusations and filed defamation lawsuits against Morbid and other people. [14] [18] His defamation suit against Gen Con was dismissed in May 2023 after Smith deliberately violated discovery rules by failing to respond to the Gen Con's requests, a decision upheld by the Washington Court of Appeals in October 2024. [19] [20]
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. [9] Smith describes himself as an anarchist. [7] [21] [22]
| Year | Award | Category | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | ENnie Awards | Honorable Mention in "Best Aid/Accessory" [1] | Vornheim: The Complete City Kit |
| Diehard GameFAN | Tabletop Gaming Award for "Best Campaign Setting" [23] | ||
| 2012 | IndieCade | "Best Technology of the Year" [24] | |
| 2014 | Indie RPG Awards | "Best Production" [25] | A Red and Pleasant Land |
| 2015 | ENnie awards | Silver for "Best Adventure" + "Product of the Year" [11] [26] | |
| Gold for "Best Setting" + "Best Writing" [11] [26] | |||
| 2016 | ENnie awards | Silver for "Best Cartography" + "Best Writing" [12] | Maze of the Blue Medusa |
| Gold for "Best Electronic Book" [12] | |||
| 2018 | ENnie Awards | Silver for best "Art - Interior" + "Setting" + "Writing" [13] | Frostbitten & Mutilated |
| Gold for "Best Monster/Adversary" [13] | |||
This month, the 31-year-old artist, anarchist and porn star has a solo show at Fred in London.
Another example came after Mandy Morbid accused Zak Smith of rape and abuse, inspiring others to come forward with their own experiences — experiences which a long-term defender of Smith considered credible. Smith then sued a number of people —including Morbid — in civil court for defamation.
Zak Smith, who goes by the name Zak Sabbath, is a game creator and adult performer who was married to Amanda Nagy, known as Mandy Morbid, a model and adult film performer. After their marriage ended, Nagy posted a lengthy public Facebook post alleging that during the decade of their relationship, Smith sexually, physically, and emotionally abused her and other women. Within days, Smith was barred from numerous online-gaming communities. In turn, Smith demanded Nagy take down the Facebook post, to which she refused. He served her with a lawsuit.
Zak Sabbath, the producer of the influential blog Playing D&D with Porn Stars and an influential role-playing game writer, was banned from attending Gen Con 2019 because of his history of abusive relationships with women in the scene.
A Washington state appeals court has refused to revive a role-playing game illustrator's defamation suit against the gaming convention Gen Con, concluding he deliberately violated discovery rules and court orders by failing to respond to defense attorneys' information requests.
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.
With Vornheim you are really getting two products in one: a dark urban fantasy setting where the skin on snakes used as books and a simple but effective city generation system. When you combine the two, you end up with a book that transcends game editions and provides a memorable backdrop for any gaming session.
The shocker of the awards was Zak Smith's A Red & Pleasant Land, published by Finnish small press publisher Lamentations of the Flame Princess, winning 2 gold and 2 silver ENnies, including Best Writing and Best Setting.
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