Trenton Doyle Hancock | New Marily, 2002

Hello. This is Alison de Lima Greene. I am a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and it's my pleasure to introduce you to the work of Trenton Doyle Hancock. Hancock was born in 1974. Raised in Paris, Texas, northeast of Dallas, he has made Houston his home for the past 20 years. Moving freely between painting, sculpture, installation, and performance, Hancock began his career by creating an elaborate mythology populated by a number of characters, including the Mound, the artist's alter ego, a savior who ultimately is sacrificed as part of the larger saga of Hancock's mound verse. New Marily is one of a series of 52 drawings depicting the Mound that Hancock created in 2002, and the artist has recalled that the title is a verbal pun on numerically and numerical. The mound is shown here in its infancy, cradled in a paradise of flowers. On further examination, however, the thrusting flowers seem ready to consume the Mound, predicting its future sacrifice. Hancock has explained, Mound is the name given to a species of human plant hybrid that resides in the forest. This is a baby Mound. He's very special because he's one of the first Mounds ever to come into being, let's name him Mound Number One. The story that will unfold before you chronicles the first color-filled moments of the legend's life, as well as his dark and tragic end. You can see more of Hancock's work in numerous public installations around the city, including the downtown campus of the University of Houston, only a few blocks away, in Hermann Park where he created Destination Mound Town for the Hermann Park Railroad Train Tunnel, at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Thank you.