Congratulations to Trenton Doyle Hancock on his solo exhibition
Epidemic! Presents: Step and Screw!
The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Jan 26 – May 19, 2019
"Epidemic! Presents: Step and Screw!, a series of thirty works on paper by Trenton Doyle Hancock (b. 1974), combines illustrations and text in a comic strip-like format. Mounted on the top half of each page, black-and-white ink and acrylic drawings on paper depict Torpedoboy—one of Hancock’s alter egos—answering a call for help, only to find himself dangerously surrounded by hooded Ku Klux Klansmen; while on the lower half, the artist carves dates and short historical inscriptions of personal and communal significance.
This is the artist’s first overt confrontation of racial injustice, blending anecdotes from his upbringing in North Texas, the political history of racism in the American South, and art historical references to the hooded and masked figures in the work of modern American painter Philip Guston.
For this presentation, Epidemic! Presents: Step and Screw! is installed in a shed, constructed in the center of the gallery and illuminated by a single light bulb, echoing the story told in the ink drawings. On the exterior walls of the shed and the surrounding gallery walls, the artist has created a new tableau of related site-specific drawings, extending the narrative beyond the thirty framed works into the exhibition space and visitor experience."
- The Menil Collection
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