Trenton Doyle Hancock - The Wayward Thinker
Hancock has weaved an elaborate mythology to which all of his artworks are anchored
| 12 Mar 2007
Colour would get him where he needed to be
Trenton Doyle Hancock, the larger than life artist with a tendency to pop sleeping pills and snooze through his opening nights, has successfully created the visual art equivalent to a jar of Marmite. His work, which forms his first European solo exhibition, has the ability to either make you sick or enthral you, by sucking you into its complex, acid-trip narrative. The Wayward Thinker offers a gargantuan sensory overload that allows no viewer to hover in indifference.
Often describing himself as a storyteller, Hancock has weaved an elaborate mythology to which all of his artworks are anchored. The epic tale begins 50,000 years ago when an ape man masturbated into a field of flowers, from which half-human, half-plant creatures called 'Mounds' came to be. The artworks illustrate the Mounds' ongoing struggle with their illegitimate siblings, the Vegans. Vegans are evil creatures that live a colourless existence below earth, sucking on fermented tofu shakes and spreading misery.
The Wayward Thinker tells the tale of St. Sesom and the Cult of Colours. The proximity of the story to that of Moses (Sesom backwards), is not a singular coincidence; much of Hancock's work harbours biblical overtones, most clearly in the pronounced theme of good verses evil. Growing up in Texas as the son of a Baptist minister has had an obvious influence on his artwork. Hancock has moved away from Christianity now but the potential of such a deep and complex narrative has remained with him, expressed in his various mediums. Collaged paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture are all present in this collection.
It would not be a stretch to imagine Trenton Doyle Hancock as lady justice holding out the weighing scales, as much of his artwork is about finding equilibrium between opposites. Light verses dark and the brilliant colours of the 'Mounds' verses the monochrome dullness of the Vegans, are issues that scream at you from each wall of the gallery space.
His work takes the form both of text and image, one aiding the other every step of the way. Hancock holds that the exhibition is visually led and that the text merely pushes the paintings to a new level. His paintings are mounted on walls that are covered in his large hand-scribed text. Sesom's Dream covers every inch of one of the gallery's walls with both colourful and black text, a canvas sits in the centre almost engulfed by the script. Taking the time to read the giant words that saturate the once white walls only serves to enhance the experience. Without these words much of the dry humour that permeates the exhibition could be missed.
Also sitting confidently on the Trenton Doyle Hancock scales is the issue of merging high and low culture. Trained in illustration, drawing and painting, Hancock's art is unmistakably influenced by comics and cartoons. The pieces contain intricately scribed landscapes in which the delicately drawn, monstrous characters dwell. Often a shape made in one sketch will inform the next, adding a formalist element to his work. Occasionally only small portions of the paintings contain colour, whilst others seem to explode off the walls in a technicolor burst. Miracle machine #13 - Good Vegan depicts a large, organic machine that sits boldly in the elaborate landscape of 'the underworld'. Comparisons with artists such as Hieronymous Bosch and William Blake are hard to avoid, no-one however, could accuse the unique work of being derivative
"Behold Sesom, I am painter and these are colours", begins the visual awakening of St. Sesom, free thinking Vegan minister and the protagonist in this episode of Trenton Doyle Hancock's artistic endeavour. Whilst the artist is speaking here as one of his characters, one could also see it as an exclamation from Hancock to the viewers. The Wayward Thinker hails our visual awakening to the complex imagination of this young, Texan artist.
Trenton Doyle Hancock, the larger than life artist with a tendency to pop sleeping pills and snooze through his opening nights, has successfully created the visual art equivalent to a jar of Marmite. His work, which forms his first European solo exhibition, has the ability to either make you sick or enthral you, by sucking you into its complex, acid-trip narrative. The Wayward Thinker offers a gargantuan sensory overload that allows no viewer to hover in indifference.
Often describing himself as a storyteller, Hancock has weaved an elaborate mythology to which all of his artworks are anchored. The epic tale begins 50,000 years ago when an ape man masturbated into a field of flowers, from which half-human, half-plant creatures called 'Mounds' came to be. The artworks illustrate the Mounds' ongoing struggle with their illegitimate siblings, the Vegans. Vegans are evil creatures that live a colourless existence below earth, sucking on fermented tofu shakes and spreading misery.
The Wayward Thinker tells the tale of St. Sesom and the Cult of Colours. The proximity of the story to that of Moses (Sesom backwards), is not a singular coincidence; much of Hancock's work harbours biblical overtones, most clearly in the pronounced theme of good verses evil. Growing up in Texas as the son of a Baptist minister has had an obvious influence on his artwork. Hancock has moved away from Christianity now but the potential of such a deep and complex narrative has remained with him, expressed in his various mediums. Collaged paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture are all present in this collection.
It would not be a stretch to imagine Trenton Doyle Hancock as lady justice holding out the weighing scales, as much of his artwork is about finding equilibrium between opposites. Light verses dark and the brilliant colours of the 'Mounds' verses the monochrome dullness of the Vegans, are issues that scream at you from each wall of the gallery space.
His work takes the form both of text and image, one aiding the other every step of the way. Hancock holds that the exhibition is visually led and that the text merely pushes the paintings to a new level. His paintings are mounted on walls that are covered in his large hand-scribed text. Sesom's Dream covers every inch of one of the gallery's walls with both colourful and black text, a canvas sits in the centre almost engulfed by the script. Taking the time to read the giant words that saturate the once white walls only serves to enhance the experience. Without these words much of the dry humour that permeates the exhibition could be missed.
Also sitting confidently on the Trenton Doyle Hancock scales is the issue of merging high and low culture. Trained in illustration, drawing and painting, Hancock's art is unmistakably influenced by comics and cartoons. The pieces contain intricately scribed landscapes in which the delicately drawn, monstrous characters dwell. Often a shape made in one sketch will inform the next, adding a formalist element to his work. Occasionally only small portions of the paintings contain colour, whilst others seem to explode off the walls in a technicolor burst. Miracle machine #13 - Good Vegan depicts a large, organic machine that sits boldly in the elaborate landscape of 'the underworld'. Comparisons with artists such as Hieronymous Bosch and William Blake are hard to avoid, no-one however, could accuse the unique work of being derivative
"Behold Sesom, I am painter and these are colours", begins the visual awakening of St. Sesom, free thinking Vegan minister and the protagonist in this episode of Trenton Doyle Hancock's artistic endeavour. Whilst the artist is speaking here as one of his characters, one could also see it as an exclamation from Hancock to the viewers. The Wayward Thinker hails our visual awakening to the complex imagination of this young, Texan artist.
Fruitmarket, Edinburgh until 8 April. Free.