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.
ALVIN ARMSTRONG was born in San Diego, CA and currently lives and works in Brooklyn. He received an MS in Eastern Medicine and practiced acupuncture in his early career. The self-taught artist had his New York solo debut exhibition This Place Looks Different with Medium Tings in Fall 2020. His first Chelsea solo exhibition To Give and Take was presented at Anna Zorina Gallery in May 2021, curated by Stephanie Baptiste. He was included in the Let Freedom Ring installation curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah at Brooklyn Academy of Music in January 2021 and The Artsy Vanguard 2021 exhibition in Miami. Armstrong was a 2022 Visual Arts Resident at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. His work has been included in Hoop Dreams: Basketball and Contemporary Art at the Everson Museum of Art. His paintings were also exhibited at Flag Art Foundation in New York and Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg in Germany. Armstrong’s work has been featured in the New York Times, reviewed in Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, Juxtapoz Magazine, Hypebeast, Luncheon Magazine, Something Curated, Artsy and Epiphany Magazine. In May 2024 Beaux Arts Magazine featured Armstrong's work on the cover of their issue dedicated to the 2024 Olympics.