Zak Smith

The list of Zak Smith’s influences is as immense and eclectic as his output of drawings: Art Nouveau, smut, Japanese woodcuts, comic books, German expressionist film, Viennese Secessionism, animation, Araki’s photos, high brow literature (favourites: Julio Cortezar, Martin Amis, Anais Nin), and punk culture, just to name a few.

Executed in pen and ink, Smith’s small and highly elaborate drawings describe a world born equally of autobiographic reality and fiction. Often producing his drawings as series, presented as individual pieces or amassed into large panels, Smith’s works allude to narrative sequence, suggesting illustrated stories and themes.

Smith sources his imagery from a wide range of sources including studies of friends from his past employment in the porn industry. These women feature largely in Smith’s work as protagonists of indulgence, sexuality, and abandon; their inherent sensuality a departure point for visual embellishment of luscious patterning, rich hues, evocative composition, and prurient texture.

Ideas of excess, obsession, and gratification run large throughout Smith’s laborious process, exuberant aesthetic, and choice of motifs; the letchy sea creatures in his 100 Girls and 100 Octopuses were chosen as much for their formal qualities of line as for their association with style icons such as Gustav Klimt and James Bond.