Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston
Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 North Sepulveda Boulevard, Brentwood, Los Angeles
October 16–March 1
This show sets up a dialogue between the work of the late Jewish painter Philip Guston and contemporary African-American artist Trenton Doyle Hancock, who cites Guston as a longtime inspiration. The exhibition is anchored by Guston’s infamous Ku Klux Klan paintings, in which he makes cartoon caricatures of the bigots, undermining their menace with satire even as he viewed them as alter egos. Hancock has engaged with both the specter of the Klan and the shadow of Guston in his exuberant paintings, in which he depicts his own avatar, the Black superhero Torpedoboy, alongside Guston’s hooded stand-in. Brimming with humor and sensitivity, the show allows us to thoughtfully consider the complex themes surrounding these works.
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