Trenton Doyle Hancock was born in 1974 in Oklahoma and raised, mostly by his
grandmother, in Paris, Texas. He earned his BFA from Texas A&M University,
Commerce and his MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University,
Philadelphia.
Hancock’s work centers on an elaborate mythology of the Mounds—a group of
bizarre creatures who represent aspects of Hancock’s character and his artistic
exploration. The extensive saga of the Mounds portrays the birth, life, death,
afterlife, and even dream states of these half-animal, half-plant creatures, and of
their enemies the Vegans.
Influenced equally by the history of painting as by pop-culture and comic books,
Hancock transforms formal decisions into opportunities to build narrative,
develop sub-plots and convey symbolic meaning. Hancock’s works are suffused
with personal mythology presented at an operatic scale, often reinterpreting
Biblical stories that the artist learned as a child from his family and local church
community. Hancock’s art harkens back to Hieronymus Bosch, Max Ernst, Henry
Darger, Philip Guston and R. Crumb. Hancock works in an impressive range of
media: from drawing and painting to sculpture, performance, installation, short
films, and even a ballet.