Draw Them In, Paint Them Out presents the work of painter Philip Guston (American, b. Canada 1913–1980), the child of Jewish immigrants from Odessa (present-day Ukraine), and Trenton Doyle Hancock (American, b. 1974), a leading Black contemporary artist based in Houston, Texas, in dialogue for the first time. The exhibition explores resonant connections between their work and the role that artists play in the pursuit of social justice.
To highlight both artists’ parallel thematic explorations of the nature of evil, self-representation, otherness, and art activism, Draw Them In, Paint Them Out features key works by Guston, including his now-iconic satirical Ku Klux Klan paintings, in conversation with major works Hancock created in response to his inspirational mentor. In foregrounding art that depicts the Klan, the exhibition aims to demonstrate how both artists engage with and, at times, even inhabit these hateful figures to explore their own identities, and more broadly examine systems of institutionalized power and their feelings of complicity within them. Yet, despite the difficult subject matter and at times violent imagery presented in their work, both Hancock and Guston share an ability to conquer the pain and emotion of their art through humor that is both dark and undeniable, engaging with their shared embrace of the visual language of comics.
Organized by the Jewish Museum, New York, Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston is curated by Rebecca Shaykin, Barnett and Annalee Newman Curator of Contemporary Art, in partnership with Trenton Doyle Hancock. The Skirball Cultural Center’s presentation is coordinated by Vicki Phung Smith, Curator.
Draw Them In, Paint Them Out is on view at the Skirball in Los Angeles, California, through March 1, 2026.Â
To learn more, visit skirball.org.
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