Mike Hinge - 81st Birthday Anniversary - Alex Jay

Thanks again to Alex Jay for another priceless contribution. Here we have a postcard to Alex from Mike when he returned to stay in his native New Zealand between 1983-1984 (Mike would have been age 53 when he wrote this postcard). I have copied and pasted Alex's email as he explains the contents and context of Mike's message.

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Hi Ivan,

I was cleaning out a box of papers and found this New Zealand postcard from Mike. Here's what he wrote:

Hi! Alex, that Star Wars book [Return of the Jedi] you designed finaley [sic] turned up in a city bookshop.

Found no interesting &'s [ampersands] yet. Its still raining off & on here so must be one of the wetest [sic]

summers ever which makes me curious about N.Y.C. if it had that severe winter as predicted. NZ as a

country goes into a total stop/siesta/holiday period around Xmas, so been slow…I'll bet your as busy as

ever. Have designed one logo, painted a Romantic Illus, for a sml [small] poster (ice cream) & two storyboard

for household cleanser. Hearing the standard pop music on the radio nothing outrageous & the color tube has

so many bad British soaps, or chuckle-alongs it makes me cringe. The "Police" played here so Rock Riot

written up in paper.

Regards Mike

I designed two Star Wars: Return of the Jedi books, the novelization and a sketchbook; I don't know which

book Mike referred to. I have a small collection of wood type ampersands, which Mike saw, and recently I

posted them on my blog, alphabettenthletter.blogspot.com/2012/04/wood-type-ampersand.html

He found work in NZ but he didn't bring printed samples when he returned to NYC. I'm sure he was desperate

to hear new music; things were too quiet in NZ. He grew restless and returned to NYC.

...

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I wonder if anyone has, remembers or knows of the painted romantic ice cream illustration? 

I have looked at one of Mike's later resumes and during Mike's time back in New Zealand between 1983 - 1984 he worked at Campbell Advertising in Auckland as an Advertising Designer.

Mike Hinge - and ONYX

What is Onyx? I remember when I first read about Onyx it was in a book "The New Visions A Collection Of Modern Science Fiction Art" published by Doubleday 1982. There was a short biography for Mike which I later found the full version here. In the biography it said  "Onyx display, Wittenborn bookstore" brief but intriguing. I concluded at the time that it was perhaps to do with Mike's set of 8 posters that I had started to collect and had seen advertised in Algol Magazine Summer 1975, one of the posters being called, Onyx Cube seen here in the original Algol advert . 

Over the next few months I would come across another references to Onyx and then one day Alex Jay sent me a scan of a magazine  "Design Quarterly 78/79: A Special Double Issue on 'Conceptual Architecture'", seen here and  it was then that I began to understand, Onyx was an artist collaboration. In that magazine it cited four members Ron Williams, Mike Hinge, Charles Albatross and Tom Simpson. With this lead, I searched on the internet and found an article in French entitled Mutations v.0.8 providing a tantalising description of Onyx. Below is a Google translation of that description: 

"ONYX group was born in New York in the late sixties. It was founded by architects that we know by the pseudonym they used at the time: Charles Albatross, Mr. & Mrs.. Harvey And The Grapefruit Orange, Patrick Redson, Okra Plantz, Tom Fulrey, Lili Piuschin, Mike Hinge, A'Lloyd. ONYX expressed their theories on architecture outside professional boundaries and conventional, through audiovisual performances and what we call a mail art. The posters of ONYX are perhaps the best examples of their operation shock, desecration of the concept of art and architecture at the time of their realization. Mail architecture was one of the instruments used to invent new ways of "doing" of architecture. Each poster was designed in every detail with great care, from graphic design to choice of colors (mostly two-color), passing through the text, often deliberately ironic and encrypted. The posters were produced in a limited number still. An advertisement stated that they were sold by mail ..."- see source: 

In October last year, Alex Jay sent me another set of exciting scans from a publication called Arthropods, published by Praeger 1972. This was a double bonus as it mentioned EAT (another art collaboration Mike had been involved with) and Onyx... However there were no Mike Hinge pictures, that didn't matter as the images were fantastic, mind blowing and I knew that this was a group that deserved much more attention. Here from the magazine are the images and text. Enjoy.

Daily Earth Chronicle by Ron Williams

The Rule by Woodson Rainey

The Rule by Woodson Rainey

The World Map by Woodson Rainey

The World Map by Woodson Rainey

??

It is all beginning to make sense now. Discovering Onyx group has shed a new light onto Mike Hinge's work. 

See more Onyx at the "Frac Centre" website.

Next week, stayed tuned, there will be a written article by Ron Williams of Onyx. With his first hand account of his involvement with the Onyx and memories of Mike Hinge.  

Mike Hinge - Happy Chinese New Year

It's Chinese New Year! Thanks very much to Alex Jay for sharing his 1989 postcard from Mike

Here is a postcard from Mike to Alex Jay wishing him a happy new year. Nice clear handwriting and an intriguing message which I shall let Alex explain what Mike is referring to in a moment. A short message but clearly shows Mike's appreciation for his friends phone call and the goodies that he had sent... but who is Mary (M&M's)?

Alex says "This Chinese New year or Lunar New Year arrives January 23. As you know, it's the year of the dragon. Back in 1989 Mike sent this postcard with the year of the snake. This Chinese zodiac animal follows the dragon, so 2013 will be its year.

In his message, Mike referred to "ABCD"; this was a music catalog of unauthorized concert

recordings on CDs. Mike was listing some of his favorite groups and musicians he found in the

catalog. And the recordings were expensive.

And then he referred to the astrology information on the face of the card, "Well look[s] like yours made

it for this year." The snake is my zodiac animal, but I do not believe in astrology, Chinese or Western."

Travel back in time to 1989 and I would have been in my late teens and I was a massive fan of The Sisters of Mercy and Xmal Deutschland they were and still are amongst my top favourite bands! As well I also liked  and still like Joy Division, New Order, Cabaret Voltaire, Wire, Durutti Column, Ultravox, OMD, Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre and also aware of Japan, Roxy Music, Brian Eno and Mike Oldfield . However at that time and until now I hadn't really heard much of Tangarine Dream or Penguin Cafe and not at all of Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze or Seventh Wave. 

I wish Mike could have designed some of the groups record sleeves or posters but as far as I am aware he didn't but perhaps there is something that is waiting to be discovered. I don't think I have or know of any of Mike's work from 1989.

Going further back in time Mike did work for a record company - Reprise Records, Los Angeles, for a short time (between Nov 1962 - Feb 1963)  with Art Director Merle Shore and according to Mike's CV he designed record covers, which ones these might be would be a nice discovery as well.

Front of Postcard from Mike to Alex.

Mike Hinge - a christmas card

It's nearly Christmas! Thanks very much to Alex Jay for sharing his 1981 Christmas card from Mike

Alex wrote "Mike's 1981 holiday greeting card measures 14 x 17 inches / 35.56 x 43.18 centimeters". 

and "Photocopy colored with markers. The card was scanned in four sections and stitched

together; the alignment is a bit off. Back in Christmas 1980, I visited my parents who lived

in Arizona; we spent a few days in San Francisco with my father's sister. That's what Mike

was referring to in his note".

Mike Hinge - The Warrior Robot

Last week I posted the Algol warrior robot cover published in the summer of 1975 and an unpublished version undated. I started wondering when did Mike first draw this particular robot with the arm weapon attachments and its distinctively shaped head and what might be the story behind this drawing? 

Putting aside Mike's other robot illustrations that have a similar build, I have made a chronological collection of illustrations of the warrior robot.There are quite likely a lot more but these are the ones that I know about. The robot's first published incarnation seems to have been in Amazing Stories, November 1969. Ted White had recently overtaken the role as editor of Amazing Stories and Fantastic Stories and updating the look of the magazines he engaged Mike with the duty of producing a series of 10 headers for the regular features. Amongst the 10 headers (5 for each magazine) the following three images are the robots published début.

   

Published in Amazing Stories November 1969

Mike had a regular display of the 10 headers in Amazing and Fantastic up until at least 1975 although I'm not entirely sure when they exactly came to an end I'd be interested to know.

I read that Ted White shared an interest in experimental music with Mike and had also offered Mike a job as art director for Amazing and Fantastic but Mike declined the offer.

Sketch 23rd April 1970

A sketch by Mike Hinge, front and side view of  robot. White paper with black pen and yellow wax crayon. Approximately 50x70cm. Dated: 23rd April 1970. Unpublished. Signed.

Published in Algol May 1972

Algol interior header for Ted White's column. Interestingly the signature has written (C) Jones/Hinge 1970 and a nice quirky detail where it says Patent Pending. I emailed Andrew Porter former editor and publisher of Algol and he confirms that it was quite likely Jeff Jones as he remembers him living in New York at the time. Also Alex Jay believes that it is also quite likely a collaboration with Jeff Jones as he also remembers Jeff living in New York around about this time and says that Mike also spoke highly of him. Andrew also mentioned that this illustration was also used for a flyer or other printed piece. Within the spirit of collaboration the individual influences are lost over time but the final result is stunning.

Published Assignment in Tomorrow 1972,

Perhaps this robot shouldn't be included here as it hasn't the same shaped head but I have included it because of the weapon attachments.

Published front cover Fantastic Stories October 1972,

Published in Comic Media March 1973.

Alex Jay sent me this image scanned from a rare British SF publication called Comic Media edited by Nick Landau. It was used to illustrate an article "A History of Science Fiction" by Lee Hopewell. The illustration is the same as the original Algol version but now minus the credit Jones/Hinge 1970 and replaced with a large plaque with Mike's name.

It might be that the plaque was added by someone else other than Mike but saying that I do quite like the font and the detail of the screws. Alex pointed out that he hadn't seen any other art by Mike signed this way in large letters and told me that the font isn't designed by Mike but is a comercial font. Andrew Porter wasn't aware of this reproduction but it is possible that it was an official repoduction. Andrew says that there was a lot of swiping back then; people took stuff, from tear sheets or other places, and reproduced them via offset.

Published in The Mike Hinge Experience 1973
Two illustrations of the warrior with a circular saw attachment. The two illustrations are undated but are from somewhere between 1969-1973. 

Published in Heavy Metal 1979

Undated, unpublished, original art

Original art by Mike Hinge - robot "Gravimat" cyborg design on illustration board, black ink and letratone, approximately 40x70cm.Unknown date and unsigned. 

Undated sketch

A sketch by Mike Hinge - Robot Maintenance. Pencil on white paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge and his participation with Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.)

At last, I can say we have something on Onyxcube about Mike's sculptural work! It is known (through these pages) that after Mike's death most, if not all of his sculptures were junked and up until now I have not been able to track down any documented work. That is until recently when Alex Jay sent me a selection of scans from the exhibition catalogue  "Some More Beginnings" organised by  "Experiments in Art and Technology" (E.A.T.). The exhibition took place at the Brooklyn Museum in 1968, with the public viewing from November the 26th to January the 5th 1969. Mike exhibited a kinetic light sculpture titled, "2000 Light years from home". The title is borrowed from The Rolling Stones, 1967 song of the same name. A cool indicator of Mike's appreciation for music and this particular Space Rock classic! The exhibition catalogue's original size is 27 x 42 cm.

The photograph of Mike's work looks incredible and the following descriptions from catalogue are intriguing "Mike Hinge New Zealander: Born 0000. 2,000 Light years from home 1968. Aluminium, synchronous motors, cam timers, wood, electric lights, 24"x24"x14" Category: C:1.2".  

And "The piece consists of a number of perforated discs rotated by synchronous motors. The major discs are 13 1/2" in diameter spaced 1 1/2" apart and are powered by 10 different motors of various slow speeds. The second set of discs is mounted below as a reflector for the first set. The discs are illuminated from below by coloured thermal flashing D-26 bulbs mounted on a 2" square with holes punched for wiring and ventilation: 20 surrounding discs are rotated by 20 motors and are sequentially illuminated by colored bulbs on a 12-hour cycle". 

Once again, thank you very much to Alex for his contributions. 

Front Cover

Further information about E.A.T. can be found on these web pages:

http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=237

http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/doc.php?NumEnregDoc=d00001940

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiments_in_Art_and_Technology

Mike Hinge and The Mars One Crew Manual

Thanks to Alex Jay we have another bumper post of Mike Hinge wonders. This time we are revisiting The Mars One Crew Manual, 1985, Ballantine Books NY, for another extraordinary journey of creativity and an amazing amount of rare unseen roughs. You might like to compare this post with the earlier post that featured The Mars One Crew Manual that Alex Jay also provided the scans for, click "here" to see both posts together.

Alex wrote in his email "I was down in the basement and uncovered another batch of Mars One designs by Mike.These photocopies show preliminary designs; you can see he explored many more designs than what was presented in August. He divided the designs into three groups: Graphics,Lettering and Pictorial".

Graphics  

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Lettering

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 Pictorial