Adrian Armstrong

“There Are Black People In Nebraska?!”

October 21 – January 8, 2023

Closed December 18 - January 4, 2023

“There Are Black People In Nebraska?!” is the first installment of a series of multimedia shows exploring the black community in Omaha, Nebraska, and Armstrong’s first step into a world-building concept. 

As soon as I moved from Omaha to Texas, the main question that I got, and still get to this day, is, “There Are Black People in Nebraska?”. This took me by surprise because all through my life, I had always been surrounded by mostly black people. Like most cities, Omaha is segregated by historically oppressing laws which concentrated the black population mostly to the north side. — Adrian Armstrong

Big Medium is proud to present an exhibition that not only highlights Adrian Armstrong’s signature style of rendering his figures in ballpoint pen but one that also includes an interactive installation that recreates Goodies, the local corner store near his great-grandmother’s home in a small, vibrant northside neighborhood in Omaha. Through sourced materials from his hometown, headbands, Ecko tall tee’s, and children running around with “ball-balls” in their hair, he gives us a snapshot of this moment in his history, circa 1999-2003.

Adrian Armstrong invites us to see ourselves in these figures and realize that blackness is found blooming in every crevice. “There Are Black People In Nebraska?!” is a celebration of similarities and differences within the culture.

“There Are Black People In Nebraska?!” runs from October 22, 2022, through January 8, 2023.

VIP Preview: October 21, 2022 | Members will receive a link to RSVP
Gallery Hours Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 12-6pm.

Closed December 18 - January 4, 2023

About the artist

Adrian Armstrong's (b.1990 Omaha, Nebraska) multidisciplinary practice, which encompasses drawing, painting, installation, and sound, documents the contemporary Black experiences in the United States. He is deeply interested in questions of how Black experiences intersect with the history of photography, portraiture, and collage. 

Using friends, family members, and acquaintances as subjects, Armstrong’s single and multi-figural works probe the influence of place and popular culture on forming self-image, community, connection, tenderness, and love–both platonic and romantic. More specifically, he is interested in the complex ways race informs how we assign value to and interact in the spaces we occupy.

Armstrong draws heavily on his identity politics and lived experiences to depict the narratives of Black life. Nested in intimate and poignant settings, his figures often embody a range of psychological states, including joy, happiness, introspection, and dysphoria. Armstrong’s works seek to inspire new ways of looking at the familiar. Ultimately, Armstrong’s work is an ongoing examination of the complexities of Black identity and representation.

adrianarmstrongart.com