Andrew Blake, the self-styled 'erotic artist,' is the kind of porn maker that people either love or hate. He is a true original, directing sex films that are iconoclastic and always impossibly gorgeous to look at. He has raised the level of hardcore to new heights through his innovative editing, creative shot-making, and his unrelenting focus on the most beautiful women in the business. Every Andrew Blake film is an event, a chance to see state-of-the-art erotic entertainment.

Andrew Blake was born in 1947. He worked his way up through the world of fashion photography and filming, moving into hardcore directing in 1989. From the very start, it was clear that Blake brought something new and exciting to his chosen field. Andrew Blake based much of his personal style on the work of fashion photographer Helmut Newton, who was known for shooting the world's sexiest women in provocative settings and outfits, including kinky leather bondage gear. Blake's first sex film to make a splash was 'Night Trips,' and it illustrated many of the techniques that he was to perfect over the next decade.

'Night Trips' was a fantasy-driven video that focused on the decadent dreams of Tori Welles, a repressed woman who lived out her deepest desires in an atmospheric nether world of pure sensuality. The film featured very little in the way of dialogue or story, concentrating instead on depicting gorgeous performers in a variety of striking, sublimely alluring situations. The film won Adam Film World's Best Film Award for 1989, and Andrew Blake was on his way to becoming one of the industry's true greats.

Over the next decade, Blake honed his personal style to perfection. His films were never story driven, but tended to be a series of almost hallucinatory sexual images that blended together into a seamless whole. His fast-paced editing style combined with glossy, often slo-mo shots of beautiful people in breathtaking settings. He sustained a sensual mood throughout his films, never delving into down and dirty action -- often his films can seem positively softcore when compared to other videos out there.

Andrew Blake is interested in creating and sustaining an erotic tone, with non-linear cutting and a somewhat detached camera attitude. One of his best early films is 1990's 'House of Dreams,' in which Zara Whites floats through a series of erotic encounters which meld into one another via Blake's inventive editing techniques. 1992's 'Hidden Obsessions' won Adam's Best Film Award for that year, and featured what's generally considered to be Janine's all-time best performance. She plays a woman hired by a rich man, charged with thinking up erotic fantasies for his reclusive wife to indulge in. Janine's sensual tryst with Julia Ann and an ice dildo remains one of the quintessential Andrew Blake scenes.

Andrew Blake continued making his own special brand of sex film throughout the 90s and into the new millennium. He opened his own production house, Studio A Entertainment, in 1996, and it is there that he has shot some of the most original and breathtaking features of recent years. 1999's 'Aroused' was an almost all-girl opus that featured one of Tera Patrick's most stunningly sensuous scenes. In 2001, Andrew Blake released 'Aria,' bringing Penthouse Pet Aria Giovanni into the porn world in a glossy, atmospheric stunner.

Andrew Blake's most frequent star is Dahlia Grey, another former Penthouse Pet and one of the most beautiful women in porn. Their best film together is probably 2000's 'Decadence,' in which Dahlia serves as the sexual centerpiece for a breast-fixated, leg worshipping film that is stylized almost to the point of total detachment. The film's cool facade gives it a feel unlike any other sexvid, and sums up the state of Andrew Blake's erotic art.

While some decry Andrew Blake as nothing but a stylist who turns hot sex into cool images, his fans consider him to be the most innovative porn director of the past decade. He is without a doubt a true original -- you can never mistake an Andrew Blake film for anything else. Filled with unspeakable gorgeous women, eye-popping settings and cutting edge editing and shooting techniques, Andrew Blake's films continue to set the pace for the high end of the hardcore industry.

Blog Andrew Blake: Andrew Blake wants to read your comments... Which is your favorite movie and why? What are some of your other favorite Andrew Blake movies? What would you like to see him do? Or any other comments you might want Andrew Blake to know and read.