In central Pittsburgh, three pickleball courts serve as the unique canvas for Sharmistha Ray‘s vibrant paintings. Titled Geometry of Play, these large-scale murals represent the first artist-designed pickleball courts in the United States. Unlike traditional outdoor murals typically found on walls, these 22-by-40-foot courts offer a fresh medium for artistic interpretation.
Ray brings their vivid geometric abstractions to life on the playable surface, highlighting the sport’s communal essence. With a longstanding interest in themes of belonging, Ray explores these concepts through the perspectives of queer identity and cultural inheritance.
The murals in Geometry of Play feature an array of intersecting shapes—target-like spheres, diamonds, and stars—spread across the courts. Two adjacent courts form a near-square with a central compass-like dial, reminiscent of an eye. Ray’s contemporary abstract work pays homage to spiritualist painters like Hilma af Klint and the Bauhaus philosophy, which equally values art and design.
Commissioned for Arts Landing, a four-acre civic development in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, the project includes a multi-use park with a performance space, ample seating, and public art. Besides the courts, Ray also crafted a series of pickleball paddles.
As a co-founder of the feminist art collective Hilma’s Ghost, Ray focuses on spiritualism and abstraction. More of their work can be explored on Instagram. Fans might also appreciate Ray’s project for the MTA and Lakwena’s basketball court murals in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
