Pedro Bell

Pedro Bell (June 11, 1950 – August 27, 2019) was an American artist and illustrator, best known for his elaborate album cover designs and other artwork for numerous Funkadelic and George Clinton solo albums. Bell also wrote many of the liner notes of the records under the name Sir Lleb (his surname spelled backwards). The liner notes contributed to P-Funk's literary mythology — a sampling of his contributions include "Thumpasaurus", "Funkapus", "Queen Freakalene", "Bop Gun", and "Zone of Zero Funkativity". Bell's work was preceded and partially inspired by Sun Ra and was a precursor to the modern graphic novel and the Afro-punk movement.

Early life Born on June 11, 1950, Bell was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His family was very religious. Bell had older brothers.

Often sick as a child, Bell would read books and comics, especially Ace Comics. Bell said that he gained his artistic talent from his father, whom he described as frustrated artist; and his mother, who wrote and played the piano.

Bell also attended Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he took art classes and studied with Don Baum.

Career Funkadelic Between late 1969 and early 1970, Bell heard Funkadelic on the underground Chicago radio station WXFM for the first time.

Bell was hired to produce artwork for the band, beginning with local show posters, promotional items, and press kits. The album cover artwork was credited under Bell's name, but the liner notes credited his work to Sir Lleb. for which he used markers and felt-tipped pens because the fumes of the paint he used were too toxic, and he often traced the markers with acrylic due to issues with color separation from the printing process. The finished works were often 300 percent larger than the actual record covers for higher printing quality. Although he went to college, Bell considered himself to be self-taught. Bell said he created the original pieces on three foot square panels, and often would only have the record title, and would not have heard the music before creating the album artwork.

According to his biography via George Clinton's official website, Bell's "stream-of-contagion text rewrote the whole game. He single-handedly defined the P-Funk collective as sci-fi superheroes fighting the ills of the heart, society, and the cosmos…As much as Clinton's lyrics, Pedro Bell's crazoid words created the mythos of the band and bonded the audience together." However, Bell was often paid very little for his work, and if it was not through the record label, payment was either delayed or he had to ask for it up front. He therefore held regular jobs, including working in a bank and then a post office, but their relationship became further strained after Clinton began to collaborate with Prince.

Other projects Bell had his own studio that he named Splankwerks, and in 1988, he created a cartoon for MTV called Larry Lazer. In addition to working on comic books (including a compilation titled Artusi Tribe) and screenwriting, Bell started a band called Tripzilla. In 1997, he published a zine titled ZEEP Magazine. According to Bell, the word was P-Funk slang for "deeper-than-deep". Deemed as inappropriate due to the cover featuring an overtly phallic spaceship that transported a naked woman, the work was edited, despite the fact that Funkadelic "was following up two consecutive million-selling records," while signed to Warner Bros.

Influences Bell said that among his artistic influences were artist Ed Roth, especially how he incorporated cars into his artwork, and the work of cartoonist Robert Williams in advertising that appeared in Hot Rod magazine.

Growing up, Bell read the Bible and was very influenced by the books of Genesis and Revelation. This led to an interest in science fiction, machinery, automotive technology, and then the surrealistic art of Salvador Dalí. Bell read extensively about dinosaurs and Godzilla, and also studied Latin.

On August 27, 2019, Bell died in Evergreen Park, Illinois at the age of 69. He had a son. 1994: George Clinton, Dope Dogs (P-Vine) 2005: Gavin Brown's Enterprise, Drunk vs. Stoned 2 – New York 2007: BLACK AGE X Convention – Chicago 2007: Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (September 29, 2007 – January 6, 2008) – Chicago 2009: Funkaesthetics: University of Toronto, Art Museum at the University of Toronto (February 12 – March 23, 2009); Confederation Centre Art Gallery (November 21, 2009 to February 28, 2010) 2018: Chicago Cultural Center, African American Designers in Chicago: Art, Commerce, and the Politics of Race (October 27, 2018 – March 3, 2019) – Chicago