“Arena: The Art of Hockey”
James Carl The Original Six 1998
Last week’s chaotic and (ironically) celebratory hockey riots in Montreal serve as a strange reminder of the ways our distinctly Canadian sports obsession can move people to make grand and irrational gestures. Few contemporary artists are brazen enough to set fire to a car, however, and in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s massive group exhibition, “Arena: The Art of Hockey,” 61 artists from Canada and abroad explore our fixation with the rink in slightly more subdued and pacifist terms.
Jean-Pierre Gauthier Nul/Flirting with the Puck 2008 Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery New York
In a new work by Quebecois kinetic sculptor Jean-Pierre Gauthier, for instance, two hockey sticks controlled by automated motors make tentative swipes towards a pendulum-like puck that swings from the ceiling. Despite their constant movement, the sticks never touch the black disc, creating an incessant, playful sense of the anticipation preceding the start of a game. Two stick-mounted cameras relay video footage to three monitors at the back of the gallery, giving an impossible “stick’s-eye-view” of the never-ending faceoff.
Ken Danby The Great Farewell 2001 Courtesy estate of Ken Danby
Popular imagery and cultural artifacts from the not-so-distant past, on the other hand, illuminate the diverse ways that collective secular rituals continue to centre on our fascination with the game. The late Ken Danby, renowned for his popular realist paintings of hockey players that hang in countless Canadian living rooms, is represented by The Great Farewell, a fantastical large-scale image that served as Wayne Gretzky’s official retirement portrait in 2001.
Beth Biggs The Clarkson Cup 2006 Contributing artists Okpik Pitseolak, Pootoogook Qiatsuk and Therese Ukaliannuk
Conversely, the Clarkson Cup, which was commissioned by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson as a trophy for excellence in women’s hockey, is a monument that has not seen any time on the ice. Created by silversmith Beth Biggs in collaboration with Inuit artists Okpik Pitseolak, Pootoogook Qiatsuk and Therese Ukaliannuk, the intricately carved cup has been dogged by issues of ownership and licensing since its creation. This means it cannot be presented to hockey teams and spends its days in Plexiglas display cases in museums across the country.
The final score is in: from street riots to silver cups, Arena’s varied works demonstrate the continued power that hockey holds over our national psyche. (1723 Hollis St, Halifax NS)
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