LA Arts now featuring exhibition on comic and graphic novel artists

Pictured is “Zen Intergalactic Ninja: Tour of the Universe,” 1995, airbrush by Dan Cote for Entity Comics.

LEWISTON — LA Arts presents two extraordinary comic and graphic novel artists with ties to Maine in its LA Arts Gallery exhibition, “From Zombies to Zen: Cartoons and Illustrations by Dan Cote and Rick Parker.”

The exhibition is on view Sept. 4 through Oct. 11, and will be the featured exhibition for the Sept. 27 Artwalk LA. The LA Arts Gallery is at 221 Lisbon St. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The exhibition is free and the community is invited to attend.

Rick Parker is an artist, cartoonist and writer, whose humorous work has appeared in the New York Times, The Village Voice, Life magazine and numerous comic books published by Marvel Comics. Parker is probably best known as the artist of MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head comic book, published by Marvel from 1994-1996. He was on staff at Marvel for many years and did lettering and production work on seminal comic series such as Spider-Man, The Avengers, Captain America and GI Joe.

Parker drew the introductory pages for the Tales from the Crypt series and has worked on numerous graphic novels such as Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring published by PaperCutz. He is working on a graphic novel about his experiences when he was drafted during the Vietnam War 50 years ago. Parker and his wife, Lisa Trusiani, a writer and storyboard artist who also worked for Marvel Comics, live in Falmouth.

Born and raised in Lewiston, Dan Cote is a self-taught computer illustrator living in Los Angeles, California. He is the co-creator of Zen Intergalactic Ninja, a comic published by First Comics that he continues to draw 30 years after its debut. Cote and Steve Stern created Zen in 1985 when they met in Lewiston. Cote is a prolific experimenter. The first series of Zen comics was completely illustrated in airbrush, simply because he was infatuated with the technique and the results the medium could achieve. Original artworks using this technique are featured in the LA Arts show.

From “Zombies to Zen” is one of several comic and illustration events happening in L-A in September. On Saturday, Sept. 21, The Great Falls Comic Expo, 2019 Fall Edition, takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gendron Franco Center. And Kimball Street Studios, 191 Lisbon St., will present “Infinite Canvas: Comics and Fantasy Illustration,” an exhibition of works by talented local fantasy art and illustration artists, in time for the Friday, Sept. 27, Art Walk LA.