Pop Painter Mark DeMaio

He has his first art show in years Tuesday, February 7th, at The Synchronicity Fine Art Gallery (106 West 13th Street, between 6th & 7th Avenues Phone: 646-246-8199) with an exclusive reception from 6pm to 9pm.

His press release by Penthouse's Lainie Speiser was labeled "666." Why? "Oh, I don’t know, just being silly," replies Lainie. "I think Mark used to use that phrase for some passwords to get into things when we worked together. I think he used “66sex” as a password. His brother is a speed metal/heavy metal rock star Joey DeMaio of Man ‘O War."

Lainie worked with Mark (send him wishes for a speedy recovery at mark@markdemaio.com) at such august New York publications as Gallery, Lollypops and Fox. DeMaio also served time at High Society, Cheri, and Genesis.

Mark, 45, calls me from hospital at 12:13pm Thursday, Jan 19, 2006. "I was walking down the street [Friday, Jan 6]. I was coming back from a shop where I was buying wood for the show. I stumbled on a huge crack in the sidewalk and blew out all the tendons in all my knees.

"Now I'm siting in St. Vincent's overlooking my apartment. I should be out in a couple of days.

"I'll be on crutches or a walker for a while."

Mark was Creative Director at Gallery and Fox and other magazines. "I directed a lot of the photo shoots. I conceived a lot of the crazier shoots for Fox magazine and made it what it is today."

"What's that?"

"More hardcore. I hope it is still funny. More like a comic book -- loud, bright, crazy, and incredibly hardcore. We showed a lot of stuff for the first time. We were ballsy and daring."

"How did you get into porn?"

"When I came to New York in 1983, I was working for science fiction magazines (Vangoria, Gore Zone etc from Starluck Press). The guy I worked with went to Genesis for an interview. He came back from lunch and said, 'It's the coolest thing in the world. Too bad I can't take it. My parents wouldn't let me.' I said, 'If you're not going to take it, give me the phone number.' He did. I called over there. They hired me.

"The thing I hated about porn was that I never could make the kind of money for myself that I seemed to be generating for others."

"Why did you stay in it?"

"Because it's comfortable. It's laidback. There wasn't a lot of attitude, particularly in the side of the business I was in. I didn't consider us pornographers as much as magazine publishers. We just happened to publish incredibly filthy magazines."

"How did it affect your artistic creativity working in porn?"

"At first I never thought it did, and then I realized later on that I had stopped doing anything creative. After work, I was drained and I wasn't doing anything.

"Then I realized we were coming up with with all these crazy things for photoshoots... It drained me to the point I realized I wasn't doing anything for myself. That's when I figured it was time to make a move."

"How did working in porn affect your relationships?"

"I just ended up with the kind of people who have no problem with porn. I don't know if it was me personally or just the jobs I held. I guess I'll find out now that I'm out."

"Are there any common denominators to girls who are OK with porn, because they're rare?"

"They may come with a little extra baggage."

"How did it affect your social world?"

"At first it was a fun and shocking thing to say to people. Suddenly you were the cool guy in the room. And then, after a while, your social world shrinks. I never let [porn] consume me outside of my job. While it drained me creatively, I never let it consume me socially. I always hung out with my regular friends."

"Did you lose any friends over working in porn?"

"No. I've lost friends for many reasons but not for working in porn. Maybe for not giving them enough for free."

"Are you attracted to the perverse?"

"I've always had a penchant for strange off-beat carnival creepiness."

"I'm looking at your paintings on your website and they're all perverse."

"They're not attractive... They are the kind of people who will not be ignored. Their emotions are on their outside and they're shoving them down people's throats. And they're forcing you to look at them.

"It's like you are walking down the street and you see a horrific-looking woman with the greatest guy in the world and you wonder how did they find each other? One of them had the balls to go up to the other and you know it wasn't the attractive one."

Mark left porn for three years between 1995-97. "Then I got a lucrative offer to go back [to Gallery]. I felt like I had to do it and I did, like an idiot."

Mark left again in the summer of 2005.