Trenton Doyle Hancock’s exhibition “Pandemic Pentameter” is at James Cohan Gallery in New York through November 27. Hancock grew up in East Texas, in a deeply Christian family. “I’ve developed a perspective over the way that I grew up, the whole Christian background thing,” he told Artpulsein 2012. “I think about what are the good things that I could take from that rigor or that lifestyle and incorporate it into my studio practice. I think there’s still a little bit of residue left over. I don’t want to say guilt, but maybe the fear that’s a deep Southern Baptist, black Baptist thing. It’s definitely not guilt-based, it’s more fear-based. I think there’s something interesting to be said about making a painting that you can fear for yourself for having made it.”

Trenton Doyle Hancock, Becoming the Toymaker, Phase 5 of 41, 2016, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 40″ x 30″ x 3″.

Coloration Coronation, 2016, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 90″ x 132″.

Split Per Tonality, 2016, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 72″ x 108″.

When They Found Me I Wasn’t There, Version #2, 2016, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 72″ x 72″.

Becoming the Toymaker, Phase 19 of 41, 2016, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 30″ x 31″ x 4 1/2″.