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The Last Word
| Source: |
Slam!Sports |
| Date: |
May 7, 2006 |
| Author: |
Bill Lankhof |
Steven Petroff loves the Maple Leafs and Darryl Sittler.
Sara Petroff's favourite team runs more along the lines of The Group
Of Seven; she loves Rodin, fine art and believes painting the corners
doesn't necessarily involve Roy Halladay.
Together they've managed the Petroff Art Gallery, located on Eglinton
Ave. near Bathurst, for 14 years, and this week they play host to a
most unlikely of marriages: Art meets sport.
The gallery's SCORE! Art Exhibition, opens Thursday, featuring works
from the likes of Raptors star Chris Bosh, Argos receiver Andre
Talbot, sports broadcaster Dan Shulman, Darryl Sittler, Phoenix Suns
point guard Steve Nash -- and a few others who wouldn't recognize a
canvas unless Hulk Hogan was falling on it.
"It's a juxtaposition from what people normally associate athletes
with," Steven Petroff said. "Their world is brawn and physical. But,
these guys have sides to their character nobody sees."
The show also features work from professional artists: Anne Murphy's
whimsical paper mache of a hockey mom or a black-eyed hockey player,
or a jockey leaning over his horse. Illustrator Tony Jenkins has Game
Faces -- hockey icons painted on table hockey games that can be
mounted to the wall. There are wire sculptures and Gary Mathews'
blown-glass putters. And, yes, they can be used, though they are best
not displayed wrapped around a tree near the 18th green.
The artwork is for sale, but money from the celebrity pieces -- which
are being sold by silent auction for the duration of the show Thursday
through June 4 -- goes to the Sick Kids Foundation.
"We're always looking for ways to make guys feel comfortable with the
art surroundings," Petroff said. "I'm conscious of how guys feel. I
don't want them to walk in here and feel like a bull in a china
shop. There's so much energy in sports and we're hoping to transfer
that into the arts."
The idea to bring the two together has evolved over the past
year.
"We had a number of artists creating sports related work," Sara
Petroff said. "Then we thought wouldn't it be nice if we could also
get sports celebrities creating art works and blend the two
... They've done some incredible pieces of work."
Maybe. But figure skater Kurt Browning admits they might not want to
give up their sweatsuits just yet.
"It's not very flashy," Browning said of the skates on which he waxes
poetic. "I hope some of the things I do on the ice could be considered
art, but when it comes to sketching and stuff, ah, no! We're really
selling celebrity. Hopefully, someone pulls out a wallet and
donates."
The work may not look professional "but it shows the personality of
heroes that normally isn't apparent," Steven Petroff said.
So the Argos' Chuck Winters paints a football with his mantra: Life,
Opportunity, Value, Equality -- and it all starts from the letters for
love.
"I saw him playing football and he looks big and mean," Sara Petroff
said. "Then he shows up with his daughters and they're such
cuties."
Winters is called lots of things on a football field but one of them
never has been "Cutie."
Shulman, meanwhile, found himself at the kitchen table in his Toronto
home between his network gigs in a dozen U.S. cities.
"I can barely draw a straight line," he said. "The most difficult part
was coming up with a concept."
He decided on a baseball diamond "in tribute to Tom Cheek and his
Touch 'Em All Joe call. My five-year-old is sitting on my lap saying:
'Daddy, can I help? Daddy, can I help?' And, I wanted to let him but,
ahhh, he is five ... I let Ben paint the middle of the outfield and I
did closer to the lines."
In the world of abstract expressionism, it ranks somewhere behind
Jackson Pollock. But, as fridge art, Shulman figures it's some of his
best work.
Olympian Sami Jo Small paints herself on a goalie stick. Steve Nash
paints happy faces and handprints on a basketball. Sittler paints his
career on hockey pucks.
None of these will get a million bucks at Sotheby's art auction but
Steve Petroff said, "People have a chance to own a special piece
created by one of their heroes. An art piece as opposed to a memento
like the usual signed shirt or photo."
Who knew Argos kicker Noel Prefontaine once considered art school, or
that the head-bangers Talbot hung with were as likely to be in a band
as a football team?
"My friends have always been artistic," Talbot said. "In high school,
I hung with the musicians. I had long hair down to my
shoulders,"
Talbot's wife, Melanie, is a fashion designer with her own label,
Common Cloth. He formed Killer Art two years ago to put on art shows
featuring new Toronto artists.
"I was actually excited about doing this," Talbot said.
He created a canvas with an Argonaut running rampant over an ethereal
background and, he says, sports and art might not be such odd
bedfellows.
"Football is war - blood, sweat, tears," he said. "It is also poetry
in motion. At a base level, it doesn't look like football and art are
on the same wavelength but being an athlete is like being an
artist. You have to hone your craft, sacrifice things like summer jobs
to be the best. As an athlete you are a starving artist. There are
similarities in lifestyle."
The gallery mailed supplies to most of the athletes who completed the
work and sent it back.
"We did have one painting day here with the Argos," Sara Petroff said,
"It was interesting to see these big, burly guys sitting around a
table painting. Mike Fletcher sat for the longest time in front of
this blank football. He stared it down, then very quietly picked up
his brushes and painted his life story from the Cripps and Bloods in
Compton, Calif., to sports and Toronto."
So, what did the Argonauts think of it all?
"One of them said, 'This is fun. We should do this instead of bowling
or poker,'" Sara said. "But I think he was joking."
Next thing you know they'll be turning the clubhouse TV to PBS and
having their post-game meals on doilies.
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