Mark Beam

Mark Beam is an American sculptor. He used a yellow surfboard to make a shark sculpture, which he then sent to Frank Zappa in 1988 as a Christmas gift from a long-time fan. Zappa was very pleased with the work and hung it in his basement. In 1992, when Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser and the Ensemble Modern organized a performance of Zappa's music, Moelich-Zebhauser insisted on naming the event The Yellow Shark, as well as the corresponding album The Yellow Shark. The image was also shown inside the sleeve.

Beam lives and works in Southern California and has had his artwork collected by the Smithsonian Institute and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.

External links

• Mark Beam's Website
• United Mutations page.