Trenton Doyle Hancock has built his own universe and has continually invited us to join him. The former cover artist (January 2016) and Juxtapoz x Superflat artist has been all over the art world in recent years, from sculpture to fine art plush toys, paintings to drawings to curating, and in so many ways, Trenton has stood out as both an original voice and influential contemporary artist. For 25 years, his work has been building his own artistic lexicon, The Moundverse, and his newest show, An Ingenue's Hues and How to Use Cutty Black Shoes, continues to expand on his narrative. The exhibition opens at Shulamit Nazarian in Los Angeles on Janaury 5, 2019.
Last year, Trenton Doyle Hancock curated a group show at Shulamit Nazarian, From Pangs to Pangolins, featuring works by, among others, Llyn Foulkes, Zoe Hawk, David Hockney, Cheyenne Julien, Mike Kelley. Now its his turn for his first solo show in Los Angeles.
As the gallery notes:
Laced with personal memoir, Hancock’s Moundverse is a metaphorical space that reflects the everyday world. Several works show TorpedoBoy in mid-stride, clad in football gear, wearing his “cutty black shoes” as he runs from evil-natured Vegans that at times take the aggregated form of a goofy-footed, cloaked member of the Ku Klux Klan (the Paris, Texas, of Hancock’s youth had an active Klan). The malignant force that reaches for this distraught—albeit defiant—central character points to longstanding concerns of systematic racism and oppression.
The exhibition also includes Hancock’s most recurring character, The Mound—a half-plant, half-animal creature that absorbs and processes negative human emotions to bring positive energy to the world. Presented within the exhibition will be two large-scale paintings of Mounds, one standing nearly eight feet tall. In addition, Hancock will present new ink-on-paper works that introduce the first chapter of the artist’s most ambitious drawings to date: Trenton Doyle Hancock Presents The Moundverse. Designed as a traditional graphic novel, this series offers a sequential understanding of the characters and stories that have dominated Hancock’s practice for the past two and a half decades.
An Ingenue’s Hues and How to Use Cutty Black Shoes continues the artist’s exploration of primal forces as they play out in The Moundverse, reflecting our current moment and inviting viewers to consider parallel themes and stories in the world around us today.
