Capsule Reviews

Trenton Doyle Hancock St. Sesom and the Cult of Color Hancock has hit the mark with this multimedia installation, bringing together his talents as graphic artist, conceptualist, painter and, above all else, visionary storyteller. It is a show that, with its fantastic storyline and panoply of parts, could easily get out of hand. But Hancock strikes a balance by way of careful craftsmanship and deliberation over each element. His hand-painted wall narrative frames a succession of things: hanging felt collages, sound-emitting felt-covered bedroom furniture, keenly delineated etchings and paintings layered in meaning, reference and material. All of which tells the next chapter of the saga of the Mounds. St. Sesom, the leader of the colorless underground-inhabiting Vegans, has had a dream about the source of color. What unfolds along the walls and in the space of the gallery is the tale of the Vegans emerging happily if not greedily into the above-ground world, where they proceed to rabidly manufacture color. Several neo-surrealist mixed-media canvases of Miracle Machines at work reveal this process of mechanical color-making. Overall, this extremely adroit work speaks of recent transformations in the scene, from Texas to New York to London: the move toward a more self-indulgent personalized art form. Nevertheless, the breadth of imagination and masterful use of material, everything from color felt and lint to glued coils of string and an orange-juice carton, make Hancock's work a crucial contribution to both the contemporary art world and greater history of art. Through October 22 at Dunn and Brown Contemporary, 5020 Tracy St., 214-521-4322. (Charissa N. Terranova)