South Carolina- Renowned artist and porn star Zak Smith [his porn name is Zak Sabbath] will visit Columbia this coming Thursday at 7 p.m. to dazzle art fans and book worms with slides from his various projects, including his popular illustrations of Gravity’s Rainbow. Hosted by the university’s literary journal, the event will take place in Callcott 011, a building that sits right behind the Russell House on Bull St. Yes, this is definitely worth hauling one’s ass onto USC’s campus. It’s even worth finding a map or visiting yemasseejournal.org for directions.
The event starts at 7 p.m. with an introduction to Gravity’s Rainbow and its author, Thomas Pynchon, by USC Professor David Cowart, who has published numerous books and essays on Pynchon and his contemporaries. Then Zak will show slides and talk about the wild process of illustrating this bizarre tale. MFA students will close the show down with readings inspired by Pynchon, and a book signing will follow. If you’re wondering whether you’ll be rewarded with food and drink for battling your way over, rejoice. Refreshments will be served at 6:30 p.m.
Smith is probably best-known these days for his 760 illustrations of Pynchon’s famous novel, which The Whitney Museum of Art displayed during its 2004 biennial celebration. Tin House just published the entire collection of illustrations, which is awkwardly entitled Pictures Showing What Happens on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon’s Novel Gravity’s Rainbow thanks to threats by Pychon’s publishers. The drawings do justice to Pynchon’s edgy and absurd sense of humor. Of course, Smith’s other projects hit just as hard. I personally like the project “100 Girls and 100 Octopuses,” a title that keeps its promise and then some. Nearly every picture depicts a pretty little girl posing naughtily with one of these tentacled sea monsters.
It makes sense that someone with Smith’s aesthetic would devote countless months to illustrating every page of Gravity’s Rainbow. If Pynchon exposes us to the dark side of human nature and sexuality through the page, Smith does so through the canvas. Some of us probably visualize Ivey-league artists as the usual moody coffee wastrels who slouch about with berets quoting Foucault when they’re not glued in front of their canvases. Not so with Smith, who’s recently begun a new project entitled Drawings from around the Time I Became a Porn Star. This isn’t too different from the mood and tone of his other work—hard-edged and heavily erotic. You can find most of his art online at zaxart.com.