“When the paint starts to settle, I still ask myself what I am going after—I’m always open to further discovery,” Alvin Armstrong told us in our Summer 2022 Quarterly. “By the end of that series, that same size painting from beginning to end was taking me roughly three hours, compared to two days. It’s not that I’m rushing. With the practice of repetition and rhythm of my movements, when it begins to flow, it can really flow, and, hopefully, people will see this dynamic at play.”
Anna Zorina Gallery is pleased to announce TIEBREAKER, Alvin Armstrong’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. In this latest series of paintings, Armstrong explores the intensity of tennis with a primary focus on women athletes. His paintings capture the physicality and emotion of the sport, depicting players contending with the urgent moments of the game. The dynamic figures highlight the strength, grace, and agility essential to tennis, while the vibrant colors radiate the energy and joy of competition.
The exhibition sets the viewer within the action of a tiebreaker game, the decisive moment in a match that incites heightened pressure and drama. Armstrong uses this phase to symbolize the risks and rewards of competition, where athletes push themselves to the limit in crucial moments. At this close perspective, the tiebreaker takes on an implication of something else at stake of breaking— the players’ spirits or bodies as their mental and physical endurance is tested by the demands of the game. Dr. Robert Walter Johnson, the mentor to tennis pro Arthur Ashe, considered tennis to be a psychological game, “confidence goes back and forth across a tennis net much like the ball itself, and only somewhat less frequently. If two players are on about the same level, no matter what that level is, the player who experiences more minutes of confidence will be the winner.” Armstrong delineates the court with vivid blocks of color, creating a bold platform on which the fluid movements of the players and the essence of competitive spirit take focus. This series encourages viewers to appreciate the physical demands of tennis and the remarkable abilities of women players, showcasing the skillful movement that defines the game.
