0:00:07.442,0:00:12.444 [Trenton Doyle Hancock: "The Former and the Ladder or Ascension and a Cinchin'"] 0:00:13.095,0:00:17.603 This is just a really small example 0:00:17.603,0:00:21.805 of what my floor looks like in my studio. 0:00:22.813,0:00:26.015 I just literally swept up a few things 0:00:26.015,0:00:29.307 and thought it would be nice to contextualize these 0:00:29.307,0:00:31.737 with the works that are up on the wall. 0:00:33.244,0:00:36.042 Just in my studio in general, I don't use erasers. 0:00:37.771,0:00:41.237 It's like I let the material accumulate 0:00:41.237,0:00:43.787 and I want you to see the history of everything. 0:00:43.787,0:00:48.169 So the idea of erasure only happens with a knife. 0:00:48.169,0:00:52.845 Like, I cut back into material to breathe new life into it-- 0:00:52.845,0:00:55.227 or, to subtract. 0:00:56.933,0:00:59.600 I'm really happy this stayed intact. 0:00:59.600,0:01:01.213 It's a letter 'E' 0:01:01.213,0:01:05.105 that was inside of the "Former and Ladders" painting. 0:01:05.709,0:01:08.507 It was in his pants area. 0:01:09.137,0:01:13.536 I think it's the 'The' of that. 0:01:15.275,0:01:17.986 I guess I could've been a little bit more reckless 0:01:17.986,0:01:19.405 when I was cutting it out; 0:01:19.405,0:01:21.074 but, part of me was like, "No," 0:01:21.074,0:01:24.706 "If you cut it in a way that it maintains its integrity, 0:01:24.706,0:01:28.414 then I can use this again in some other work." 0:01:31.246,0:01:35.875 I'm always going out and gathering different kinds of textures and materials 0:01:35.875,0:01:38.375 to keep things from being so stagnant or inbred. 0:01:41.205,0:01:45.475 Like, that work has probably fifteen years worth of collage material in it. 0:01:45.475,0:01:48.133 So, it's kind of fun for me to go up and say, 0:01:48.133,0:01:50.005 "Oh, that's from undergrad." 0:01:50.005,0:01:52.281 "Oh, I remember I did that in grad school." 0:01:52.281,0:01:54.470 "This is one of the first Mounds I made, 0:01:54.470,0:01:56.468 that I decided to cut up and put in here." 0:01:56.468,0:01:59.467 So it's like a little time capsule that unfolds, 0:01:59.467,0:02:02.068 and the challenge was to orchestrate it in such a way 0:02:02.068,0:02:03.962 that it didn't feel overwhelming-- 0:02:03.962,0:02:06.362 it just felt like it was unfolding 0:02:06.362,0:02:09.300 in a way that was natural. 0:02:09.300,0:02:14.227 And it's about busting, maybe, out of shackles 0:02:14.227,0:02:16.796 and trying to get free of something. 0:02:21.675,0:02:23.218 So this painting, in a way, 0:02:23.218,0:02:28.100 has every move that I've ever made in a painting, 0:02:28.100,0:02:29.467 in one painting. 0:02:40.949,0:02:42.806 I had done all these smaller works 0:02:42.806,0:02:44.418 that had figures in them; 0:02:44.898,0:02:47.508 but, they weren't interacting with anything. 0:02:48.437,0:02:51.537 There were these invisible forces binding them, 0:02:51.537,0:02:55.758 but there were these kinds of tortured characters. 0:02:57.579,0:03:00.331 With this work, I wanted it to kind of 0:03:00.331,0:03:03.406 keep that idea of torture. 0:03:03.406,0:03:05.638 Like, okay, this character is in a predicament 0:03:05.638,0:03:07.807 that doesn't seem comfortable; 0:03:07.807,0:03:10.404 but, I wanted to give him some sort of agency 0:03:10.404,0:03:12.637 that maybe he can get out of it-- 0:03:12.637,0:03:14.837 or he's on his way out. 0:03:17.709,0:03:21.375 This painting was fully orchestrated in a different way 0:03:21.375,0:03:22.699 than some of the other ones, 0:03:22.699,0:03:25.470 where I had to kind of feel through them. 0:03:25.806,0:03:29.173 I could show you the sketch that I did before this painting. 0:03:29.173,0:03:34.269 And it's literally six or seven marks on a white sheet of paper. 0:03:34.451,0:03:37.873 Like, I knew what this painting was going to be from that. 0:03:39.517,0:03:43.837 So, there were no false starts when I went to work on it-- 0:03:43.837,0:03:45.975 this calculated subtraction. 0:03:48.211,0:03:51.068 So all of these other works 0:03:51.068,0:03:53.976 went from birth all the way up to maturity 0:03:53.976,0:03:56.076 and that painting just sat in the corner 0:03:56.076,0:03:56.594 and was like, 0:03:56.594,0:03:57.306 "Hey," 0:03:57.306,0:03:59.131 "You gonna work on me?" 0:03:59.131,0:04:00.237 "It's been two months." 0:04:00.237,0:04:01.836 "You gonna do something?" 0:04:01.836,0:04:03.837 And I was like, "Hey, I got this." 0:04:03.975,0:04:05.267 I got this little sketch-- 0:04:05.267,0:04:07.175 I know what you're going to be. 0:04:12.728,0:04:16.277 There's lots of things in the work 0:04:16.277,0:04:18.105 that play off of one another. 0:04:18.105,0:04:20.006 There's the very organic, 0:04:20.006,0:04:22.668 softer-edged material. 0:04:22.668,0:04:25.467 And then there's that very hard-edged ladder in the middle 0:04:25.467,0:04:27.025 that anchors it all. 0:04:28.175,0:04:30.867 The pencil for me is this symbol-- 0:04:30.867,0:04:32.206 it's like a weapon. 0:04:33.405,0:04:35.561 'No regrets' on the eraser, 0:04:35.561,0:04:38.245 that is just my little pun or joke. 0:04:39.248,0:04:41.399 But it's also about my life. 0:04:42.489,0:04:44.437 Like, I do have regrets-- 0:04:44.437,0:04:46.005 I think everyone has regrets, 0:04:46.005,0:04:48.068 even if they don't admit to them. 0:04:48.068,0:04:50.614 But, artistically, I don't. 0:04:51.729,0:04:54.299 And I think everything happens in the way that it should 0:04:54.299,0:04:56.175 in terms of the art.