On the Court, a red abstract oil painting by Ritu Raj (oil on canvas, 4 × 4 ft)

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Abstract Inquiry · 2024

On the Court

4 × 4 ft · Oil on canvas · 2024

Available · in the studio, Phoenix

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The game made abstract — the court as the space where everything is permitted within the lines, the instant before play.

On the Court (2024) is an energetic freeze-frame — an abstraction that captures not the action of a game, but the charged stillness in between. This 48 x 48 inch oil painting from the Playful Abstraction Collection strips away players and motion, leaving only the essence of anticipation, rhythm, and spatial tension.

Bold lines slice across a blue-and-terracotta field, suggesting court boundaries and directional movement. Sharp angles intersect with curves, while neon accents flash like echoes of uniforms or scoreboard lights. The texture is smooth but interrupted — a metaphor for rules, play, and the chaos that hides beneath structure.

I created On the Court while thinking about performance — not just in sports, but in daily life. How we step into spaces, define them, and become part of their choreography.

This piece is aligned with the bold graphic minimalism of Ellsworth Kelly and the theatrical framing of David Hockney’s stage sets. Like them, I use flatness to create emotional space.

On the Court doesn’t celebrate victory. It celebrates readiness. The moment before.

Where to see it. In person at RituStudio, Phoenix, by appointment. Represented by Jarrow & Goodman, Los Angeles.

The space it needs

Wall
At least 5 ft wide
Ceiling
8 ft or more
Light
Natural light preferred — oil layers shift through the day
Daylight
Saturated enough to sit near glass without washing, the cadmium red and citrine yellow stand up to bright light. Under afternoon west sun the warm side does gain ground over the midnight blue.

Lives best in

Living room 5/5

On the Court earns a 5 here because its 4-by-4-foot square holds the room's social energy without overwhelming it, the cadmium red and chartreuse trading tension across the obsidian ground the way a conversation builds before it breaks open.

Hotel lobby 4/5

The restless charge compressed into those ultramarine and carmine diagonals reads well at lobby scale, giving transient viewers just enough legibility to feel the coiled readiness without needing time to decode it.

Details

Size
4 × 4 ft (W × H)
Medium
Oil on canvas
Year
2024
Collection
Abstract Inquiry
Palette
Obsidian · Cadmium Red · Midnight Blue · Carmine · Citrine Yellow · Ultramarine · Chartreuse
Weight
About 22 lb
Ready
In the studio; delivery 8–12 weeks

Its ArtGram

ArtGram.Spur

  • Texture2
  • Form3
  • Colour range3
  • Palette3
  • Contrast4
  • Abstraction Quotient2
Read the full reading on ArtGraph →

Keywords

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