Trenton Doyle Hancock- Matilda Lee
Trenton is a 45-year-old artist who paints, draws, sculpts, and creates collages. He has a specific style that is slightly off-putting but in such a way that interest the viewers. Trenton was born in Oklahoma City in 1974, however, he grew up in Paris, Texas. His stepfather was a preacher, so he was raised around religion which is shown in the work he has done over the years. He is drawn to creating characters and stories in his pieces. He even wanted to be a professional cartoonist after he graduated from Texas A&M University but instead, he then earned his Masters of Fine Arts at Temple University in Philadelphia. He keeps everything because he believes he can reuse it in another work. He has one work full of 15 years of other works or scraps he saved. He does this because while he creates he then thinks of the older works, so he sees these new works as a time capsule. For his drawings and painting, he creates these characters and storylines that make the viewer feel slightly uneasy. He has a few that resemble himself and how he would see himself as a superhero in another world that he has created in his work. This other world also has these creates called Mounds. Mounds look like black and white stripped anthills but they are actually animals that are old and very respected in his art world. He was a series of drawings and paintings of these creatures and their life all the way to their deaths. He draws this creature as if it has decomposed and the storyline continues on in other works showing other characters mourning these “king” like things. Most of Trenton’s works are centered around birth, life, death, afterlife, or these dream states. He also has a lot of art dealing with memories. He uses patterns he recognizes from his childhood or materials that spark other memories for him. He is working more on this idea now than the mounds and the world he did have. He still puts characters into his work but not like in his older works. He has a series of older works of tortured characters and some are even drawings of himself in grotesque situations. I believe that’s how he portrays how he felt about his upbringing and being surrounded by religion the most.
