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Trenton Doyle Hancock. What the Bringback Brought
By Ashley Knight
Influenced equally by the history of painting and pulp imagery of pop culture, Trenton Doyle Hancock, born in Oklahoma City in 1974, transforms traditionally formal decisions–such as the use of color, language and pattern–into opportunities to build narrative, develop subplots and convey symbolic meaning. Hancock’s works are suffused with personal mythology presented on an operatic scale, often reinterpreting Biblical stories that the artist learned as a child from his family and church community. His exuberant and subversive narratives employ a variety of cultural tropes, ranging in tone from comic-strip superhero battles to medieval morality plays and influenced in style by Hieronymus Bosch, the surrealistic paintings of Max Ernst, the writings of Henry Darger, the art of Philip Guston and the works of cartoonist R. Crumb. Hancock is presenting his first film at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art this summer as part of the exhibition “EMIT: What the Bringback Brought,” curated by Matthew McLendon. The presentation will offer audiences a rare opportunity to experience an important shift in his practice, which has been traditionally focused on drawings, painting and performance.
The show, on view through Sept. 13th, features character figures, sketches and the aforementioned film, which explores how Hancock’s lifelong love of the science fiction and horror films of the 1970s and ‘80s has shaped his perspective and identity.
Trenton Doyle Hancock, Trent the Toymaker, 2014, from "What the Bringback Brought,” acrylic on illustration board. All images are courtesy of the artist and James Cohan Gallery, New York
“Through his various use of media, Trenton Doyle Hancock has established a cross-disciplinary career, creating an imaginative world of inventive characters and narratives. His expanded approach to art making and his exploration of techniques typifies the kind of practice The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art seeks to engage with and enable by partnering with living artists,” McLendon said. “It has been deeply gratifying to work with Trenton as his work ventures into this new genre. Films inspired him to create his past works, so it was a natural evolution to see him create a film.”
Trenton Doyle Hancock, illustration for box for a plush Torpedo Boy toy, acrylic on illustration board, 2014.
“EMIT: What the Bringback Brought” was created by Hancock, in collaboration with Graphicstudio at the University of South Florida, in Tampa. It was made possible thanks to his selection by a national panel of museum curators as the 2013 recipient of the Greenfield Prize in visual art, awarded in conjunction with The Hermitage Artist Retreat. The prize included $30,000 to be put towards an artwork to be completed over a two-year period.
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Over the past decade, Hancock has become known as one of the most inventive artists at work in the United States today. An avid collector of action figures, a passion that began in his childhood, he is best known for his extended series of visual work that develops the intricate personal mythology of the Mounds and Vegans, two diametrically opposed universal forces that play out the archetypal battle between good and evil.
"Bringback Cabbage," from "What the Bringback Brought" by Trenton Doyle Hancock.
This exhibition is his first step in a new series of action figures and dolls as well as a film in the guise of a television commercial promoting these characters. According to Hancock in the commercial, “The product that I would be selling [would] not only [be the] toys but sensibilities from another time, a time when toys were better, when horror films and children’s fantasy entertainment was better.” ‘What the Bringback Bought’ will have made its way from my imagination and onto the screens in the museum gallery. The film is helping me believe in my characters in a new and more powerful way,” he says.
Hancock earned his BFA from Texas A&M University-Commerce and his MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. He currently lives and works in Houston.
“Trenton Doyle Hancock, EMIT: What the Bringback Brought” is on view through September 13th. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is located at 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota, Fla. | www.ringling.org.
Ashley Knight is an arts writer based in Miami.
