Geoff began making art as a child in Carmel, NY. “I painted pictures of tractors and airplanes, pretty much what I paint now,” he said.
Geoff watched as his father, Robert Andrew Parker, a painter and illustrator, churn out work for publications such as The New Yorker and Fortune magazine. “He would go back and forth to New York City to deliver his work,” Geoff said. “He really cranked it out.”
Friend and neighbor Ed Sorel - also a well-known, professional illustrator - was an early influence on Geoff. “His cross hatching, which is done with pen and ink to shade in drawings, was legendary,” Geoff said. “He and my father egged me on.”
Geoff went on to freelance for The London Times and The New Yorker, which hired him to make illustrations for reviews and other work. “It was always fun doing illustrations of authors and movies," he said. "'Fargo' was my favorite. Drawing pictures of bands was fun, too. “
His celebrity illustrations include rock stars Patti Smith and Lou Reed. Some of his major influences are American-realist painters George Bellows and Edward Hopper, John Graham, Rockwell Kent and the Hudson River School of landscape painters.
Geoff’s current inspiration? “I’m inspired by the preservation of Earth and all it entails,” he said. “It is so fragile.”
