We Did Porn [Paperback]

Punk artist and icon Zak Smith made a name for himself by visually interpreting Thomas Pynchon's Gravity Rainbow and drawing pictures of girls in the ''naked girl business''. Somewhere along the line, he went from the observer to the observed, from the guy with a sketchpad to the guy on-screen doing the unnamable for anyone 18 or older to see. This is Smith's memoir of his foray into pornography, moving from the New York art scene to L.A.'s seedy yet colourful underbelly, providing readers with a new understanding of the porn industry, its players and its audience.

''What makes artist Zak Smith's entertaining memoir of his stumbling into the subculture of alternative porn interesting is the richness of the portrait he creates...But what makes We Did Porn so striking is not its complicit sympathy with the pornworld or its knowing satire of the artworld, but Smith's eloquent, puzzled mixture of frustration and stoicism towards the conditions of urban culture and existence...Smith is remarkably good at capturing this.'' Art Review

''Intelligent, frank and often hilarious meditation on the author's dual career...The pleasure in this book comes not from living through the author's atypical experience, but in being taken deeper into areas of thought commonly perceived as taboo a wild, entirely worthwhile ride.'' . Kirkus Reviews

''Smith s take on the industry is vivid and insightful, including observations on people, politics and American culture the push-and-pull between the Right and those who want the right to screw.'' Kirkus Reviews, Nonfiction Supplement

''Will appeal to those who like things a little kinky.'' Publishers Weekly

''A fascinating synthesis of words and art...'' LibraryJournal.com

''An intelligent, funny, and self-aware reminder that intelligent, funny, and self-aware people do in fact choose to work in the porn industry...It is all incredibly interesting and entertaining.'' Alison Hallett, The Portland Mercury

''The subject matter combined with his clever imagery couldn t help but keep it fascinating... It reminded me of David Foster Wallace s hilarious, equally dense essay Big Red Son ...Smith and Wallace have similarly breathless, heady writing styles and We Did Porn could easily serve as a porn insider s compliment to Wallace s journalistic-outsider perspective.'' Alex Peterson, Willamette Week Online

''Wildly entertaining.'' Fleshbot

''...a page-turner...a genuinely enjoyable read...'' Audacia Ray, author of Naked on the Internet ''Alongside 'fine artist and 'porn star' on Zak Smith's unique resume, you can now add the phrase 'entertaining and resourceful writer'...[We Did Porn] is exhaustive, perceptive, empathic, and very funny.'' John Bolster, Penthouse

''...reads not unlike a George Plimpton-style adventure in immersive investigation, as the artist chronicles his adventures in front of the camera as eager rookie Zak Sabbath, with words, pictures, self-awareness, and dark humor.'' Shana Nys Dambrot, Flavorpill

''...Smith is an outrageously talented observer, which makes his writing almost as arresting as his images, which are superb. Smith's detailed descriptions of 'life in the zeros' both on and off the set make We did Porn a fascinating x-rates documents of a cynical age.'' Jim Ruland, Girls Gone Wild Magazine

''...combines words and images, mixing memoir with gorgeous paintings...Smith's art is exquisite, intensely drawn with splashes of electric colors, sharp lines and energy throbbing in every complex detail...We Did Porn is an excellent book and Zak Smith is an incredibly interesting artist and writer.'' Alyssa Bianca-Pavley, Fanzine.com

Zak Smith's two previous books are Zak Smith: Pictures of Girls and Pictures Showing What Happens On Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow. He is a frequent contributor to several independent comics and zines. His work has appeared in numerous publications worldwide and in many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum. He lives in Los Angeles, where he works as an artist and performs in adult films.