Trenton Doyle Hancock was born in 1974 in Oklahoma City, OK and was raised in Paris, TX. He earned his BFA at Texas A&M University, Commerce and his MFA at Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia. One of his accomplishments was being featured in the 2000 and the 2002 Whitney Biennial exhibitions- this being especially notable with the fact that he was one of the youngest to ever be featured in this event at 26 and 28 years old. His mixed media pieces focus on building a narrative that is part autobiographical and part fictional. He draws inspiration from his past experiences, history, and numerous pieces of fiction. Hancock uses color, language, and pattern to create and further develop his characters, sub-plots, and symbolic meaning in his story. His compiling of experience and fiction “result[s] in a complex amalgamation of characters and plots possessing universal concepts of light and dark, good and evil, and all the grey in between” (jamescohan.com). He often depicts tales from the Bible in his paintings, and mixes moral dilemmas with wit and “a musical sense of language and color” to “create a painterly space of psychological dimensions” (art21.org).
As to why I chose to look at this artist, I was originally drawn to him due to sharing the same name as my little brother. I, of course, did look at his content before choosing to use him for my project and was fascinated by his colorful and textured pieces. He was one of the few (mostly) 2d artists that I could find, and the first one whose art appealed to my aesthetic tastes. Also, his choice to focus on the story behind his piece further drew me in, as I believe having story and meaning to a piece is the most important part of the art process. Overall, his artwork is outstanding and well deserving of the awards and features he has received.
