A blast from the more recent past that I found going through my press clippings. A great article by Holden Westland, published in Tiki Magazine that puts words to my work. Enjoy!
Tiki Shark Art, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, has a following in more than 32 countries for its Hawaiian-themed art and products that range from apparel, beach towels, tiki mugs and key chains to $25,000 original paintings, all designed by Parker. The company plans to add to the product line with the addition of Tiki Shark Art sunglasses in the near future.
Parker and his business partner, Abbas Hassan, were featured as the No. 10 fastest growing small business in PBN’s annual Fastest 50 in 2014.
Parker is one of the foremost artists of the so-called tiki revival, the resurgence of interest in the mid-twentieth-century pop cultural phenomenon that firmly planted umbrella drinks, Trader Vic’s restaurants and Martin Denny music into the mainstream. The phantasmagorical world he creates in his paintings is filled with impossible creatures—tiki mugs come to life, a cat playing an ‘ukulele, a witch in a grass skirt with octopus tentacles for legs, a giant tiki with superhero abdominals battling Godzilla over Diamond Head. Pop culture references abound. In “Werewolf of Waikiki,” part of a series putting classic movie monsters on vacation, Parker’s wolfman sports Steve McGarrett’s curling hairdo and plays a bongo drum on Waikīkī beach. In “Bela Lugosi Has a Zombie,” the actor who personified evil in the 1930s and who starred in Hollywood’s original zombie movie enjoys the cocktail known as a zombie; meanwhile, in the distance, a zombie waiter approaches with a fresh round of drinks.
