A new installation at the ASU Art Museum offers a look at the connection between hockey gear and a paintbrush.
"Cross Check: William Wegman and Jacob Trouba" explores the link between the brash physicality of hockey and the graceful art of painting.
Miki Garcia, director of the ASU Art Museum, led a conversation between Wegman and Trouba Thursday at the museum's fall opening reception.
"At first glance, the studio and the rink seem far apart," Garcia said. "But both depend on timing, instinct, repetition, risk, failure and recovery."
The exhibition opened Aug. 8.
During the conversation, Garcia probed the story of the art and the meaning behind it.
"Cross Check is about more than hockey becoming art," Garcia said. "It asks what happens when we cross boundaries between disciplines, between generations and between the identities we are given and those we create for ourselves."
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Wegman, well known for his artwork featuring Weimaraner dogs, saw Trouba as one of his "hockey heroes" and was excited to work with him, he said at Thursday's event.
Wegman said he saw the first piece of the installation as a Jackson Pollock-esque artwork, comparing the blunt force on the canvas to Pollock's iconic paint splatter style.
Looking at the collaboration, Wegman said the piece wouldn't have been able to come together if it weren't for Trouba.
"I don't think they really exist unless they're together," Wegman said. "[Trouba's] work exists by itself, my work doesn't unless it's with yours, and that's peculiar and interesting."
Trouba, a current defenseman for the San Jose Sharks and former captain of the New York Rangers, lent his experience on the ice for the artwork.
To create these works, Trouba wore hockey gear covered in ink and launched himself into the canvas to create impressions that represent the speed and force of hockey gameplay.
Wegman then took those marks and transformed them into gallery-worthy pieces.
Trouba said he appreciated being recognized as an artist, as he is typically seen only as a hockey player. When working with Wegman, he got to step into a position where he is seen for his personality traits off the ice.
"Someone's going to put you in a box, and I felt like even before I met someone, I was almost being put in a box of violent, angry, sometimes toeing the line, that guy," Trouba said. "I mean, to me, that's not who I am, who I really ever was."
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Trouba has been creating his own artwork for years and has found opportunities to incorporate the small details of his sport into his work.
In between periods, hockey players need to add more wax to their sticks in order to preserve the stick tape. The wax typically comes in tiny squares, but Trouba has been finding ways to evolve them through his art.
"I waxed my stick across the bottom to top, which created different forms with the wax, started making those bigger and it kind of turned into these wax sculptures," Trouba said. "So we'll see where that goes."
The installation was funded by several large donors, including American Express and NHL Unites, which prides itself on extending the NHL's reach into communities and expanding the league's inclusivity.
"Cross Check: William Wegman and Jacob Trouba" is on view at the ASU Art Museum until Jan. 3, 2027.
Edited by Sam Troester, Carsten Oyer and Sophia Keeling.
Reach the reporter at amahearn@asu.edu and follow @abiahearn on X.
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