The point of departure of Zachary Armstrong’s (b. 1984; USA) art comes from his own private sphere: his childhood, his family, the American culture, natural history books he encounters. Armstrong’s works seem to contain a coded message about the person who created them, something that becomes evident when a motif is repeated and extended throughout several paintings and series, like a mannerism or a stain that’s part of us. However, while making secret references to his personal universe, his works also evoke some larger context, such as the idea of the American countryside, folk art, and the tradition of American and European modernism, reaching a bigger set of references that points to the universal. Armstrong’s paintings combine geometrical structures and expressive figuration. One of the most particular aspects of Armstrong’s works is the use of encaustic technique, rendering them sometimes sculptural.
Recent solo exhibitions include Tilton Gallery, New York; Faurschou Foundation, New York, NY/Beijing; The Contemporary, Dayton; Carl Kostyál, London; Sabsay, Copenhagen; Melser/Feuer, New York; Night Gallery, Los Angeles and Dayton Visual Arts Center, Dayton among others. Armstrong was included in Inherent Structure, a survey exhibition of contemporary abstract painting at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus in 2018. That year, he also participated in the residency program at Lefebvre & Fils in Versailles, France.
His work is included in the permanent collections of the Contemporary Art Foundation, Tokyo, the Faruschou Foundation, Copenhagen and the Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus among others.
He currently works and lives in Dayton, Ohio.