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THEISPOT INTERVIEWS JEFF HINCHEE

May 22, 2023

Jeff Hinchee has recently relocated from New York City to a small farmstead in Minneapolis, just down the road from Paisley Park. His work includes editorial, advertising, and book illustrations, as well as featured illustrations for television shows, Broadway, and live "immersive experience" events.

How would you describe your art style? 

I think in the simplest terms we would call my style “mixed assemblage”. I’m trained as a set and costume designer and have worked on very many Broadway shows, operas, ballets, and other live events for the past 20 years. There are isolated skills within that design work that became second nature to me. For example scene painting, traditional drawing and painting, storyboarding, technical drafting, prop styling, and very obviously scale model making. Theater requires a flexibility in style as each show has its own visual references, history, and tone...

...After working in that industry for about 10 years I decided to go to graduate school for illustration and to focus on figuring out what my art style could be— which at the time was still a mystery to me. I did lot of artistic exploration in grad school but didn’t settle into my current style until I had been working again for a few years, this time as a freelance illustrator, and the scheduling of projects necessitated I “get it together quickly”. And so my illustration style is an accumulation of those theater design skills combined into one image. In theater you often present a finished scale model of a set (a perfectly appointed miniature), but the process work leading there is all cut paper studies. I’ve arrived at a version of that “paper” space that mixes drawing with photographed handicraft; and rather than something that has been labored over for months like a set design, I strive for work that feels playful and loose.

Share a favorite project and tell us about it. 

A few years ago I was contacted by Paul Jean at The New York Times to create an illustration for the cover of the Weekend Arts section celebrating the reopening of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I’ve enjoyed working with Paul and that assignment might as well have been a dream-come-true. At the time I had just moved out of NYC to Minneapolis but MoMA is my favorite museum and I was a member for many years when that city was my home. I’d often go just for a quick peek and some lunch, for a birthday outing, or even for private after hours events. I have memories of certain exhibits and the friends I was with when we shared that art moment… so it’s truly a special place for me.

...I recall the time frame was incredibly short for the ambitious idea we had. I’m not entirely sure now how I got the project done, but there was no time for doubts or hesitation. I feel incredibly grateful to have illustrated a number of covers for the NY Times, and with some really awesome art directors, but that one really does stand out in my mind as a distinctive honor.

Which artists inspire you and why? 

Aside from my friends, colleagues, and teachers? When I was a little kid my family would visit my uncle, who was also an artist, in the East Village of New York City. We’d go to galleries and installations where the art was environmental and really immersed you in an experience, like the Earth Room. At the time I was obsessed with the show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, which was filmed in New York and was made by an amazing group of artists. Being there felt like being transported to the art-world I saw on tv...

As an adult I’ve identified Gary Panter and Wayne White as those artists who infected my subconscious at a young age, and they’re really quite prolific as artists and production designers. Obviously I’ve been drawn to art that creates a space, a place, a time, etc. I also have a particular fondness for stage designers who are also masterful illustrators, like Jo Mielziner, Maurice Sendak, Robert Perdziola, and Clive Hicks-Jenkins.

Name a bucket list item. 

Well, I recently went skydiving so I can cross that off the list. There are definitely a few bucket list JOBS that I would love to land someday, but I’m too superstitious to mention them. And there are definitely bucket list PLACES that I’ve never travelled to, ideally with great friends.

Other than illustration, what job would you like to do for one day? 

I’d love to work in a Natural History Museum planning and designing exhibits. That would take more than a day. You’ve probably gotten a sense by now that I love museums. The American Museum of Natural History has my favorite dioramas, like the model of Isfahan; and the Brooklyn Museum has delightful period rooms that are an understated counterpoint to the Met’s. I’ve just now realized my copy of the Met’s Period Rooms is missing (I probably lent it to someone), so I’ve got to place an order now…

Tags: Jeff Hinchee, Illustration, Interview, Theispot Interview

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