Puck's Arena
My introduction to artist’s books, and altered books in particular, started with an undergraduate field trip to the Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta, and one work in particular. When a new job brought me back to the university years later, one of the first things I did was schedule a time to go in and take another look at this fascinating object. These photos come from two visits to see this work, the first in February 2018 and then again in February 2019, which I am delighted to share under the Fridays at the Peel umbrella.
At first glance, it seems innocuous enough, perhaps even a bit boring or common?
It is by (almost) all appearances a fairly standard copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare, so what’s the big deal? A small clue can be found in the handwriting subtly added around the original title. But if there was ever a time to apply the broader advice to not judge a book by its cover, or in this case the literal case, this would be it. Sliding the volume out of its slipcase, the true nature of this work is revealed…
This is Puck’s Arena: A Power Play by book artist Douglas Beube, a donation to the Peel made in honour of Wayne Gretzky receiving an honourary degree in 2000, part of the U of A Senate’s Honorary Degree Book program. And it is possibly my favourite thing in the Peel.
A dealer’s note accompanying the volume describes it as follows:
A unique and playful altered book by an important book artist who grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, commissioned by the [Bruce Peel Special Collections] Library in honor of Mr Gretzky. Taking an edition of Shakespeare's complete plays, Buebe has physically cut it to create a miniature theatre and hockey arena, combining Puck from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with the puck of hockey. The various phrases remaining represent spoken lines in the play and voices of audiences and sportcasters shouted down to actors and athletes. The word/name PUCK appears in the fourth line from the bottom, and in the second line from the top it reads: "And many giddy people flock to him".
The single page, with words drilled out, is now the goalie's net and at its bottom is the number 99. When the page is put over the book's text, the viewer must peer in to see the arena. Buebe has created 17 other power plays… affixed in the inside whimsical Puck for the puck. This is an imaginative, lively and personal tribute to a Canadian sports legend.
The first time I saw it, I felt both horror and delight, but the delight quickly won out… the play in words and concepts, the visceral and immediate flash of recognition and yet also surprise, the details that revealed themselves only with longer and closer study.
And I continue to discover new details. For example, it was only in looking at these photos again for this post that I noticed how the original typesetting into two columns has resulted in the creation of an “aisle” down through the stands at either end of the stadium as a result of Beube’s sculpting.
With the Peel open again after the past several years of craziness, I look forward to booking Puck’s Arena to view once again. And, actually, ‘view’ is entirely the wrong word. As perhaps an even more basic statement about the ongoing importance of the physical book, I look forward to being in the presence of the book, holding it, and turning its pages. Pictures alone do not do it justice.
But whether in picture, in person, or in memory, Puck’s Arena reminds me of the power of the book as object, the power of appropriating that meaning and significance in the service of a new work of art, as well as, strangely, the original. And of the moment when I first started down this rabbit hole, leading ultimately to my own experiments in altered books.
Happy exploring!
– Winston
