By Anand Holla

Regarded among the most inventive artists at work in America, Trenton Doyle Hancock’s works seem to have a mysterious ability to jump out of their physical confines and lure you in with full force.
As part of Crossing Boundaries Lecture Series, Hancock will be in Doha to talk about art on November 11 at 6pm at the Atrium at Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar (VCU-Q). The lecture is free and open to all. The Crossing Boundaries series reflects the cross-disciplinary nature of the featured speakers who are representatives of excellence in creative and innovative thinking. American artist Hancock is a terrific choice in that regard.
Born in 1974 in Oklahoma City and raised in Paris, Texas, Hancock has always been interested in issues of morality and ethics, especially those “defined by puritanical Christian beliefs.”
Hales Gallery, in its note on the artist says, “He grew up in an all-American household governed by these ideals, but quickly developed his own parallel – often contradictory – value system. What began simply in his youth necessitated by a desire to manage a seemingly endless amount of resources, questions and life information, has continued into adult life, pulling in a deepening understanding of life’s thematic complexities, current events and existential conundrums.”
All of this would propel the visuals and text that show up in his layered narrative drawings, prints and installations that has made Hancock the phenomenon he is. To create his own personal narrative between good and evil, Hancock draws inspirations equally from the history of painting as well as from the pulp imagery of pop-culture through comics, graphic novels, cartoons, music and film.
Often called an epic visual narrative, Hancock’s mythical “Mounds” who serve as the protagonists in an ongoing battle between good and evil, has been a signature creation. Hancock’s Mounds are half-human, half-plant like creatures that came to life about 50,000 years ago, and their rivals who cause their deaths are called Vegans. Among some of the protectors who are supposed to protect the Mounds, there’s one called Torpedo Boy. All characters are rich in colour and their stories are steeped in elaborate mythologies.
In an interview with Art21, Hancock answers how his characters relate to his identity: “I see each character as a separate part of me. I can separate one aspect of my being out, and then put it in front of me, and then look at it. And it’s kind of like all of these things are inside me at once, battling each other. And at certain points, one is dominant. Like, at one point I may be Torpedo Boy: I might have the biggest ego ever. And then at another point, I could be one of the Mounds: I could be this stationary object who’s kind of pathetic and a bit stubborn and kind of sad. And then at another time, I might be one of the Vegans who’s self-righteous and looks to make others around him or her like him. So, it’s up to each of those other parts of myself to balance that dominant side out and make it come down in size.”
Hancock transforms traditionally formal decisions — such as the use of colour, language and pattern — into opportunities to build narrative, develop sub-plots and convey symbolic meaning.
A note by the VCU-Q says, “Storytelling is a central part of Hancock’s artistic practice and for almost two decades he has developed the narrative surrounding the “Mounds” and a cast of colourful – and often not so colourful – characters who populate a wildly fantastic, invented landscape.” In his talk at the VCU-Q, Hancock will be discussing his studio practice and work within the context of this ongoing saga of the Mounds and the world he has created.
Hancock has been the recipient of numerous awards and his work is in the permanent collections of many prestigious museums, including the Brooklyn Museum, NY; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA. Trenton Doyle Hancock lives and works in Houston, Texas.