Rangers Star Opens Hockey-Themed Art Exhibit

Jacob Trouba is making a mark as more than just the captain of the New York Rangers.

Apr 7, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba (8) controls the puck in the second period against the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba has made a name for himself on the ice as a tough leader who isn’t afraid to throw his body around. That same hard-hitting style inspired an off-ice passion for the Rangers captain.

Trouba opened his first solo art exhibit in Manhattan. Named “Landing My Mark,” most of the art consisted of a unique method of putting paint on a canvas. While fully dressed in his Rangers equipment, he would cover himself in paint and check the canvas as if it were the boards on an ice rink.

Jacob Trouba opened his first solo exhibition on Thursday 🖼️

“Landing My Mark” features his pieces that blend his two passions of hockey and art.@AstraZenecaUS pic.twitter.com/zcA8a6g0L5

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) August 1, 2024

After not getting the hang of regular brush painting, Trouba told BR Open Ice that he took inspiration from French artist Yves Klein. Trouba took specific inspiration from Klein’s works, in which he painted women’s bodies before pressing them or moving them around a canvas.

“I made my own artistic language throughout hockey,” Trouba said. “Which obviously relates back to me and what I do.”

As a player, Trouba is known for his heavy, sometimes borderline illegal, hits. He took what he learned through painting and found a way to pair it with that brutal style of play.

“As I was taught painting, the basic language of painting is marks, lines, and washes,” Trouba said. “My mark is unique to me. The check is kind of my unique mark.”

Trouba has 10 pieces on display at Harper’s Gallery; seven of them are in the checking imprint style, and the last three are hand paintings related to hockey.

These works are more than just a side project for Trouba, as he’s partnered with AstraZeneca, and proceeds from auctions will go towards Hockey Fights Cancer.

“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.”

Some of Trouba’s paint-covered equipment is also on display.

Trouba’s future in New York may have been questioned earlier in the offseason, but it looks like he’ll at least start the 2024-25 season as Rangers captain.

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