Trouba’s first art exhibit 'Landing My Mark' opens in Manhattan

Jacob Trouba is “landing his mark” in the art world.

The New York Rangers captain’s art exhibition titled “Landing My Mark” opened at Harper’s Gallery in Manhattan on Thursday.

Ten original pieces by Trouba are featured in the exhibit. Seven of the pieces are made from imprints of the veteran defenseman’s body checking into the canvas. The other three pieces are hand paintings by Trouba of a face-off dot, a net and a painting titled “Wheat.”

A display of Trouba's painted hockey gear used for the art pieces is also featured in the gallery.

It is Trouba’s first solo exhibit as an artist and runs from Aug. 1 to Aug. 23.

“It’s not something I really set out to do [the exhibition],” Trouba said. “It was just kind of a hobby I was trying. It turned into something I really enjoyed, and Harper [Levine] reached out after he saw the art... Now we’re here. It’s kind of surreal.”

When learning about painting, Trouba was inspired by French artist, Yves Klein, who would paint women’s bodies and press them against the canvas to make an imprint.

“That was the first time I was like, oh, that's something that is very interesting to me and relatable of what I do and my, I guess, identity as a hockey player and physicality of checking,” Trouba said.

To create his own body prints, the Rangers captain dressed in his hockey gear and had a friend brush paint on him. Then while on roller blades, he would skate and slam his body into the canvas that was draped over a mattress standing against the wall.

He said the worst part was how slippery the floor got from all the paint flying everywhere.

Trouba’s favorite painting in the exhibit is the “Leap of Faith.” It features an imprint of the side of his body in black paint against a white canvas and was the first painting he worked on.

“It was the first one and we just didn’t know what to do,” Trouba said. “The feeling of when I came off the canvas and looked at it. I was like this is great, I like this. This is something I think I can work with, so that was a cool moment.”

The Rangers captain first got into art three years ago after a friend invited him to his studio to learn how to paint. Trouba was immediately interested in what makes a painting good and how to create one himself.

Each of Trouba’s artwork takes a different amount of time. The body check pieces taking the shortest and the other detailed works taking weeks to months. The Rangers star works on his art mostly during the offseason. This summer, he rented a studio close to his apartment to paint out of.

The paintings from the exhibit will be available for purchase. Trouba is donating one piece to be auctioned off for Hockey Fights Cancer in November. The cause is close to the veteran defenseman’s heart, who earlier this year starred in an AstraZeneca campaign with his mother titled “Get Body Checked Against Cancer.”

Trouba is looking forward to eventually expanding his artwork past checking and to learning his own artistic language. But for now, he is happy his work is making an impact beyond being hung up on a wall.

“I think that one of the most important aspects is the charitable aspect of it with the prints and then partnering with AstraZeneca and donating a painting for auctioning off for Hockey Fights Cancer,” Trouba said. “It just ties everything together with the, the checking on the ice, the checking of the canvas and the ‘Get Body Checked’ campaign. I think that was where everything made sense that this all worked.”