<I>Step and Screw: West End Scrap (Mentor) #12</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2021
name: label: Created by
content: Trenton Doyle Hancock, American, born 1974
label: Subject of
content: Ku Klux Klan, 2nd, American, 1915 - 1944
notes: label: Caption
content: Trenton Doyle Hancock grew up as a comic book fan and aspiring illustrator before studying painting, animation, and editorial cartooning. In his artwork, he creates cartoonlike characters and fantastical narratives to address serious issues of race embedded in American society. Step and Screw belongs to a series featuring Hancock’s alter ego, Torpedo Boy, along with Klansmen figures that reference the artwork of Jewish painter Philip Guston (1913–1980). Guston’s caricatured Klansmen serve as critiques of racism and antisemitism while emphasizing the white assailants’ culpability and complicity, as do Hancock’s. In this scene, Torpedo Boy is lured into a house to change a light bulb. As the narrative continues after this frame, the light comes on, and he realizes he is surrounded by Klansmen. The materiality and rawness of the irregular canvas are meant to enhance the discomfort of the story.
label: Description
content: A black and white acrylic and ink painting by Trenton Doyle Hancock. The painting has been painted on square-shaped paper collage surface, adhered to a similarly sized canvas. The painting resembles a single comic book panel with cartoonish figures outlined in white against a solid black background. Both figures are depicted in full length, standing in profile. On the left is Hancock’s character, “Torpedoboy,” in a superhero costume with a large letter T emblazoned on the chest. On the right is a robed and hooded Klansman. The conical hood fully covers the figure’s face with two solidly white eyeholes. The Klansman is holding out a lightbulb in his proper left hand as if handing it to Torpedoboy, who is looking down towards the offering. Between the two figures is a low stool.
label: Description
content: On the verso is an inscription in graphite: [TRENTON DOYLE HANCOCK / “STEP AND SCREW” / WEST END SCRAP / (MENTOR) / #12 / 2021].
place: label: Place made
content: Houston, Harris County, Texas, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Comics and graphic novels
label: Topic
content: Race relations
label: Topic
content: White supremacy movements
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: Exchange
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Exhibition
content: Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.
label: On View
content: NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 052
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2024.59
objectType: label: Type
content: acrylic paintings
label: Type
content: mixed media
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Trenton Doyle Hancock 2024. Courtesy the Artist and James Cohan New York
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acrylic paint, ink, and paper collage on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 30 × 30 × 1 in. (76.2 × 76.2 × 2.5 cm)