| abstract
| - In a deserted film studio lot, two businessmen seal a deal by shaking hands. One of the businessmen is on fire. Neither of them acts as if anything is wrong. A respectable, middle-aged suburban couple attempt to fake a photo of an an alien spaceship flying above their house, but are caught in the act. The wife is not happy about it. Sometime during The Thirties, a wealthy young woman invites her latest boyfriend into her mansion. The suitor looks apprehensive--and he has good reason to be. In the next room, the woman's butler is busy disposing of her previous boyfriend. Where are these scenes from? Old movies, or some forgotten Genre Anthology series? Actually, they're all from the work of a studio that designed album covers for some of England's best known bands. (In order, they're the covers of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, UFO's Phenomenon and Audience's The House on the Hill.) Welcome to the world of Hipgnosis. During The Sixties, Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey "Po" Powell were students at the University of Cambridge, where they knew future Pink Floyd members Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Thorgerson and Powell had already designed and photographed several paperback covers for Penguin Books as "Consciousness Incorporated"; therefore, when the Floyd needed a cover for their second album A Saucerful of Secrets, they turned to their friends Storm and Po, who renamed their collaboration "Hipgnosis" after the word was scrawled on the door of their flat by a then-unknown "ingenious dope fiend". This was the beginning of a creative partnership with Pink Floyd that still exists today. Saucerful turned out so well that Hipgnosis was offered more work by the Floyd's label and booking agent. Throughout The Seventies, the studio's reputation grew as they were commissioned by some of the biggest names in British music (see the list below); along with artist Roger Dean, they helped create the look of Progressive Rock and Heavy Metal. Their work is notable for its use of Surrealism; in those pre-Photoshop days, their enigmatic images had to be created in Real Life, or through retouching and other trickery, instead of clicking on a mouse. Hipgnosis is also remembered for the stories their vivid images told, often using Science Fiction tropes. (Speaking of sci-fi, Hipgnosis designed covers for Douglas Adams' The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy albums ] and Norman Spinrad's novel Bug Jack Barron ]). Storm and Po became so busy that in 1974, they promoted their assistant Peter Christopherson to a full-time third member; Christopherson remained with Hipgnosis even after he joined Throbbing Gristle. However, by the mid-1970s, times were changing. Prog and metal were out, Punk Rock was in, and the punks had little use for Hipgnosis' elaborate imagery. Although the studio continued into The Eighties, by 1983 they transformed themslves into a Music Video company called Greenback Films, which eventually dissolved due to Creative Differences. After Hipgnosis, Storm Thorgerson formed Storm Studios and continued doing album covers (and eventually CD booklets); although he mostly designs for younger bands like Catherine Wheel and The Cranberries, he still works on most Pink Floyd-related projects. Aubrey Powell is currently a film director and has co-written two books with Thorgerson. Peter Christopherson continued making music (with Throbbing Gristle, and later with Psychic TV and Coil), and also directed music videos and TV commercials, until his death in 2010. has an extensive archive of images created by Hipgnosis and their friends. Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell also have official websites.
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