Neon Park (born Martin Muller, December 28, 1940 – September 1, 1993) was an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, comics artist and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

, best known for the images that have strongly defined covers for nearly every

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group because of creative differences shortly before his death in 1979. Surviving ...

album except for the band's self-titled first album. He also created the cover of ''

Weasels Ripped My Flesh ''Weasels Ripped My Flesh'' is the seventh studio album by the American rock group the Mothers of Invention, and the tenth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It is the second album released after the Mothers disbanded in 1969, preceded by ...

'' for

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

,Neil Slaven, ''Electric Don Quixote: The Definitive Story of Frank Zappa'', Omnibus Press, 2003, p158. as well as covers and graphics for David Bowie,

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from t ...

, and the Beach Boys. Illustrations for '' Playboy'', ''National Lampoon'', ''Glass Eye'', and

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

are also among his claims to fame. Park's work was noted for its surreal images. Neon met his second wife, filmmaker and painter Chick Strand, during the early sixties

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

scene. They were collaborators in art and life for over 30 years, dividing their time between Los Angeles and San Miguel de Allende, a small town in Mexico, an influence seen in his later works. In 1983, Neon began to notice numbness in his hands. His physical condition worsened over several years. After many tests and operations, he was diagnosed in 1992 with

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

(ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. His response to the doctor who told him he had the disease was, "I never even played baseball." ALS is a degenerative disease with no treatment available, and doctors estimated a two-year survival time. He continued to work, but as his illness advanced he could no longer paint, so he concentrated on writing poetry, typing with one finger when he could no longer hold a pen. He died in 1993.

References

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia article.
at united-mutations.com

at laluzdejesus.com

Since September 1995 on the web. 1940 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American painters American illustrators American male painters American comics artists American surrealist artists Underground cartoonists Album-cover and concert-poster artists Neurological disease deaths in the United States Deaths from motor neuron disease 20th-century American male artists {{US-illustrator-stub