Mounds and mounds Of GENIUS

I just went to see the Trenton Doyle Hancock exhibit at the Philly ICA. The exhibit is called "Wow That's Mean and Other Vegan Cuisine." It was organized by the fabulous Elyse Gonzales, who gets a giant gold star from me for bringing Hancock to Philadelphia. I am thrilled that I got to see the show and meet the artist in person. He's been one of my heroes for a long time.

Why is he my hero? Well, check this out.



Or better yet, this! The man's a genius.

He's swimming in his own personal mythology, which is a vastly populated world of comic book heroes and villans that he uses to translate his artistic impulses and personal experiences into archetypical forms. There's a whole cast of characters- Torpedo Boy, the Vegans, an ape family and these guys: the Mounds.


You can read more about him and the exhibit here but if you get a chance to go see it, do- he made 3D wallpaper for the ramp that's really amazing. If you want to know more about him, his segment on art21, is a great start. The art 21 website has lots of great info, but the video is better. I show it to my students every semester. They think he's nuts. I think he's nuts like a fox.



There were other Philadelphia artists & bloggers at the walkthrough, and I expect they'll write about the exhibit too. The indomitable Libby Rosoff and Roberta Fallon of artblog were at the show as was Rob Matthews, whose faboo blog is called Matthews the Younger.