Artwork for the 1979 Funkadelic album, ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’ by Pedro Bell
 
Artist Pedro Bell is probably best known for the album art, cartoons and strange sexed-up illustrations that have appeared on and inside albums for Funkadelic and Funkadelic frontman, George Clinton. In 2009, the Chicago native was in pretty rough shape—he was losing his sight, required dialysis treatments for his failing kidneys, and was almost evicted from his apartment. Thankfully, things have improved for Bell since then and I’m happy to report that he’s got several projects in progress that will hopefully help bring more recognition to his massive, mind-bending body of work.
 

Funkadelic’s “The Electric Spanking of War Babies” by Pedro Bell
 

Gatefold view of the 1978 Funkadelic album, ‘One Nation Under a Groove’ by Pedro Bell.
 

Enlarged image of a cartoon inside ‘One Nation Under a Groove’ taking a jab at Mick Jagger.
 

Album artwork for the 1974 Funkadelic album, ‘Standing on the Verge of Getting It On’
 
I remember being at the library when I was a kid (you know, that place where they used to have all the books?), and being absolutely fascinated with Bell’s images on albums like The Electric Spanking of War Babies (with the giant phallus masquerading as a spaceship and a naked woman inside), or the curiously cool cartoons inside the gatefold sleeve of 1978’s One Nation Under a Groove.

It should also be noted that not only did Bell create images that helped build the mystique of Funkadelic as an entity, he also contributed to the band’s, well-known groovy lexicon. On George Clinton’s official website, Bell is affectionately referred to as an artist who “inverted psychedelia through the ghetto like an urban Hieronymus Bosch”—a statement that could not more perfectly describe Bell’s trippy illustrations and artwork.

Many images follow as well as a short cartoon featuring Bell’s artwork in motion from 1988.
 

Gatefold view of Funkadelic’s 1973 album, ‘Cosmic Slop’ by Pedro Bell.
 

Album artwork for the 1976 Funkadelic album, ‘Tales of Kidd Funkadelic’
 

An insert from the 1976 Funkadelic album ‘Tales of Kidd Funkadelic’
 

Artwork from ‘Standing on the Verge of Getting It On’
 

Album artwork for George Clinton’s 1982 album, ‘Computer Games’
 

Artwork from the Funkadelic album, ‘Tales of Kidd Funkadelic’
 

Artwork from the 1981 Funkadelic album, ‘The Electric Spanking of War Babies’
 

A short animated video featuring Pedro Bell’s illustrations in motion from 1988.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The original sketches for Parliament’s famous Mothership stage element