That's Not My Name

Paintings
	The Girl With The Child in Her Eyes Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 100cm 2008
	Telephone Thing Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 100cm 2008
	Catch Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 100cm 2008 O
	We'll Make a Little History, Baby Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 100cm 2008
	I Am Star Wars Today Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 100cm 2008 O
	Turning Japanese Acrylic on Canvas 100 x 150cm 2008

PROJECT STATEMENT

Taken from a song by the Ting Tings the title of the exhibition refers both to the musical taste of a new generation, as well as to the thought that a portrait may never capture the essence of a person. Hancock has always worked up close with his subjects, often making their personal stories part of the narrative of his work. In his new series the allegorical iconography as well as the hyperrealist painting style, which are typical for his work, are more simplified and therefore convey a powerful immediacy.

Hancock's subjects are defined through their gaze, which is either upwards or averted. It defies immediate interpretation and instead presents the possibility of an inner world. The figures are represented alone within sketchy urban contexts. In That's Not My Name the subjects themselves seem to challenge the intrusion into their intimate sphere. Hancock interprets this challenge as pathos and adds multiple iconographic readings to it. Whilst his series Jane Says relied upon the writings of a young woman, which were translated into contemporary paintings with a Pre-Raphaelite twist, the new series relies on the gaze alone to reveal a glance of an inner narrative and the backdrop as a clue for self-definition. A set of smaller paintings The Ecstasy, created from portraits made both in China as well as the North of England introduced the upward gaze as a play on how kids in different cultures might rely upon either religious or stimulant induced ecstatic states, without being judgemental. True to the forbidden world of the youngster, their self-definition takes place in urban locations, which are mystified by their own poetic feelings.

Hancock takes this as a departure point and compositionally highlights little personal objects as a clue. In 'Amanda Panda' a plastic mascot of a panda bear on a bathroom wall gives clues to the portrayed girl dreaming with tousled wet hair. Rather than being sexual it is represents the muddled transition between child and adult, exposing fragility and yet remaining private. 'Catch' shows a teen with fashionably messed up hair, dangling on a bus stop, wearing a T-shirt with a dragon motif. The dragon alludes to exterior posturing of unknown power, yet, his pose is unassuming and vulnerable.

Hancock's paintings merge the representation of intimacy and innocence with the universal influences of MTV culture and street fashion. In a world of highly intrusive press coverage and a celebrity cult, which starts younger than ever before, Hancock's paintings make a stance for the poignancy of intimacy whilst remaining fluent in the seductive language of media induced fashionability.