Mingering Mike
A MING / WAR PRODUCTION: THE TWO SIDES OF MINGERING MIKE
1970
mixed media on paperboard
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of Mike Wilkins and Sheila Duignan and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mingering Mike was recently featured in an article written by Liam Ward for Messy Nessy that details the artist's "legendary" catalogue of handmade record covers.
When you were young, what did you want to be? An astronaut, a princess, maybe a superhero or president of the world. Mike Stevens dreamt of being a soul super star, he wanted to tour the world, to write and produce award-winning albums and run his own record label. He would star in, write and direct his own films. People would flock to see this titan of soul, fans adored him, people wanted to be him. Think James Brown meets Quincy Jones. And between 1968 and 1977 Mike would achieve all of this, only he’d do it all with his own wondrous imagination.