Line Up Featuring Torpedo Boy and TDH Properties (2021) is a monumental work which sees Torpedo Boy’s side profile against a backdrop of logos — intensely packed to form a quiltlike pattern. The work is graphic and iconic, and the repeating design is reminiscent of toy company packaging, such as Mattel, which the artist grew up with. Torpedo Boy’s body positioning is an outline Hancock has used previously in his Step and Screw body of work, where his character comes up against a Klu Klux Klansman. Here, our hero is isolated to create a monolithic piece, the background evoking a prison like chamber or as the title suggests, a criminal ‘line up.’ We see the protagonist in a vulnerable, stationary state but still bold and strong, in one of the largest Torpedo Boy works Hancock has made to date.

The work is testament to Hancock’s practice, in which he layers concepts and materials with great complexity. Formal elements of medium, colour, shape and line are of upmost importance to the artist, who creates work with dynamism and impact, in order to communicate narrative elements.