Stadium Tennis 1977

LeRoy Neiman made this painting of a tennis match, using loose brushstrokes and a vibrant palette. It feels like Neiman is really interested in the performative, the colour palette almost a celebration of the energy of the crowd. The materiality of the paint is important here. Look at the thick impasto of the crowd in the upper part of the painting. It’s applied in such a way as to suggest a kind of shimmering light, and the individual daubs of colour are incredibly expressive. Then compare this to the lower half of the image, the flat plane of the court itself, which is rendered in much flatter, more graphic terms. The contrast is interesting, and it has the effect of making the players appear isolated or suspended. I can't help but think of Joan Mitchell, who also had a love of colour and a knack for capturing movement. Like Mitchell, Neiman seems interested in capturing the sheer joy and spectacle of life. It's an embrace of ambiguity and multiple viewpoints.