Last night French lothario and self-confessed amateur pornographer Olivier Zahm had a gallery opening. We went to look at the pictures of naked ladies in the bath, on tables and peeing outside hotels. We also spoke to the man himself.

Zahm founded Purple magazine, wears the same outfit every day and has a photo blog on which he documents his very NSFW life. The opening, at Half gallery on the Lower East Side was like a hipster black hole of Calcutta. Paul Sevigny, Andre Balazs, Jefferson Hack and James Frey crammed in among the models, vintage clothing and asymmetrical haircuts. Michael Stipe stayed outside and smoked. Terry Richardson made a grand entry and asked the world at large where the picture of him was (it was next to a vagina close-up, perhaps a deliberate juxtaposition). In fact an informal survey revealed that, of 29 photographs, 17 featured naked women. The aesthetic was perhaps best summed up by an overheard comment: "dude, if I took a bunch of pictures and had an art show, this is what it would look like."

The man himself was hidden behind thick purple sunglasses in the back office of the gallery. His traditional outfit — plaid shirt, black jeans, black leather jacket over white denim jacket, pointy boots, gold watch — was set off with a black-and-white silk scarf for the occasion.

"I am not an artist," he said in a thick French accent while greeting various people with lip or cheek kisses as the whim struck him. "I just love woman. Photographing a woman is something you do with your whole self — all of you as a man. They are precious and delicate and attractive."

Zahm, perhaps unsurprisingly, loves amateur pornography. "They are not photographing just to make you come, like professional pornography. They are real people sharing their sexual lives and they are doing it for themselves and for other couples. Sex is life. Professional pornography is just capitalism." He would not share his favorite websites: "you cannot find them on Google. These are for people who know about amateur pornography. You must be recommended them." He did not think Gawker worthy, apparently.

Outside a French filmmaker, who gave his name only as Renaud, mused on Zahm's photographic sharings. "You know, I don't want one of these prints. I want his life."

[Pictures by Alexander Poe, who sadly lost $200 playing poker all night after these were taken]