Rick Parker

Early life Parker grew up in Savannah, Georgia. He did not own many comic books as a child — instead, his artistic influences include Little Golden Books and the comic strips Mutt and Jeff and Little Orphan Annie. He also lists Will Elder, Wally Wood, Carl Barks, Harvey Kurtzman, Roy Crane, and Jack Davis as influences. Parker earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Georgia, and his Master of Fine Arts at the Pratt Institute. Parker was one of the four original artists of The Pekar Project (SMITH Magazine, 2009–2010), which brought the writing of the American autobiographical comics pioneer Harvey Pekar to the web.

He also drew the introductory pages of Tales from the Crypt for Papercutz from 2007 to 2009. Parker has illustrated a series of graphic novel parodies (written by Stefan Petrucha) for Papercutz Slices (Papercutz) — titles include Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid (2009), Harry Potty and The Deathly Boring (2010), Breaking Down (2011) (a parody of the Twilight series), Percy Jerkson and The Ovolactovegetarians (2011), and The Hunger Pains (2012).

Fine art Parker's fine art consists of paintings, drawings, collage, assemblages, sculpture, lithographs, photographs, performance, and conceptual art. He was the founder of the Barking Dog Museum in New York City (1975–1987). His artwork has been shown at the Hundred Acres Gallery in New York, the NYU Art Gallery, The Georgia Museum of Art, the Pratt Institute Art Gallery, Franklin Furnace Book Archives, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and the DUMBO Arts Center.

Parker's comic art and fine art is in private collections and several institutions.

Awards C.A.P.S. Grant, 1978 Village Voice Photo Contest, 1985 Comics Buyer's Guide Award, Favorite Letterer, 1989/90