—————————————————— Capsule Art Reviews: July 10, 2014 | Arts | Houston | Houston Press | The Leading Independent News Source in Houston, Texas

Capsule Art Reviews: July 10, 2014

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"Trenton Doyle Hancock: Skin and Bones, 20 Years of Drawing" Trenton Doyle Hancock is being given a full-scale retrospective at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Written large on one wall is the informing theme: "He had a hunger that was telling him to draw it." And so he has, with verve and original style, a gift for storytelling and a keen narrative sense. There is an amusing portrait of a character relieving himself titled Torpedo Boy Peez. The stream emanating is red, green-yellow and purple — seldom have accent colors been used more dramatically. There is a striking narrative in ten panels of Torpedo Boy conning alien creatures into lending him their tofu chips, which he then uses to solicit, successfully, a prostitute. The tone is delightfully amoral — this is not a world where judgments about others are made. There is a large, richly detailed mural titled Vegans Have Fun that has orgiastic elements, and a tone that seems to invite the viewer to join the party. Hancock has even created wallpaper with detailed writing and an occasional illustration that repeats itself as wallpaper does. Film is a new medium for Hancock — he has created an ever-morphing head that's engrossing and seems able to eat itself. There is wit here as well as talent. This is a carnival that one enters to be entertained, and is. But there is a power, even a majesty, in the certainty of Hancock's vision that is authoritative and lets us know in no uncertain terms that he has seen the future — and here it is. Through August 3. 5216 Montrose, 713-284-8250, camh.org. — JJT

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Randy Tibbits is an independent art writer and curator, specializing in the art history of Houston. He is a member of the Board of Directors of CASETA: Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art and the coordinator of HETAG: Houston Earlier Texas Art Group. He writes art exhibition reviews for Houston Press from time to time.