Rufai Zakari is widely recognized for his vibrant figurative works, particularly his portraits of women, which showcase the strength, resilience, and beauty of his Ghanaian community. For his latest solo exhibition, The Comfort We Chase, the artist considers the universal desire for comfort, peace, and emotional freedom amid turbulent times.

Whether through a trip to the beach, a cottage on a lake, or afternoons spent beside a neighbor’s backyard pool, water becomes both a literal and symbolic space of renewal, rest, and human connection. It serves as a universal gathering place where families and friends experience moments of relief, play, intimacy, and collective care that transcend geography and culture. Many of the works in the exhibition depict a solitary figure reclining atop a playful, oversized inflatable raft. Adrift in a pool, these individuals appear physically insulated from the pressures of the outside world. Their buffered experience allows for a fleeting space of rest, reflection, and respite from the demands of contemporary life. Through these scenes, Zakari quietly considers whether such moments of calm are a privilege afforded only to some or a fundamental human necessity.

Printed words and patterns embedded within the collaged packaging introduce additional layers of complexity and social commentary to the work. Much of the discarded plastic incorporated into the compositions once contained water itself. These single-use disposable sachets, originally used to hold and distribute water, are transformed into material that once again evokes water within the imagery, creating an intricate relationship between object, material, and representation. Beyond transforming discarded materials into compelling works of art, Zakari has established the Rujab Eco-Art Foundation, a community-driven organization based in Bawku, Ghana. Through the foundation, the artist merges visual art with environmental activism to address the growing impact of plastic pollution, consumerism, and industrialization within his community.

Rufai Zakari (b. 1990, Ghana) is a visual artist who lives and works between Accra and Bawku, Ghana. He completed his apprenticeship under Mozzay, a senior artist in Nima, Accra, and in 2011 earned his degree from the Ghanatta College of Art and Design. In his work, Zakari examines consumerism, environmental pollution, labor, trade, and the perils of industrialization in contemporary Ghanaian society. The founder of Rujab Eco-Art Foundation in his hometown of Bawku, he bases his practice on recycling waste from the streets of Ghana. Zakari’s work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions, most recently at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2024, 2021); San Luis Potosí Center for the Arts, Mexico City, Mexico (2023); Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, Ohio (2023); Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2022); and Gallery T293, Rome, Italy (2022). Since 2014, he has exhibited widely across Africa, Europe, and the Americas. His work has also been presented in group shows at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida; The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio; 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York (with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery); Queretaro Contemporary Art Museum, Mexico; Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany; Untitled Art, Miami Beach (with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery); and The Armory Show, New York (with The Breeder Gallery). Zakari's work can be found in important private and public collections, including the Pizzuti Collection at the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Arthur Lewis Collection, Los Angeles, CA; Easton Capital/John Friedman Collection, New York, NY; Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana; The Bunker Artspace Museum, West Palm Beach, FL; The Ditau Collection, Cape Town, South Africa; Susan Goodman Collection, Brooklyn, NY; VG Collection, Kallakurichi, India; Akron Museum of Art, Akron, OH; JOM Collection, Dakar, Senegal; AMMA Foundation, Querétaro, Mexico; and The Africa Centre Collection, London, UK.

Patrick Wilson’s abstract paintings emerge from a distinctly Southern California artistic legacy shaped by experimentation, light, and a keen sensitivity to color and surface. Expanding the visual language of hard-edge painting, Wilson orchestrates translucent planes of luminous color that intersect and transform through changing opacities. Their clear boundaries waver as the edges of rectangular color fields shift and hover in relation to one another across the composition. In his painting Desert Bloom, 2024, hues of violet bloom viscerally from candescent orange, their dynamic saturation creating an arresting visual force anchored by the composition’s geometry. Here, color and form become the subject itself, offering a contemplative respite from the relentless flow of digital imagery and inviting an immersive, sensorial viewing experience.

Though Wilson’s meticulous paintings may appear rigorously planned, they are not predetermined. Developed gradually over the course of months, the paintings evolve through an intuitive and highly responsive process of layering. With each application of pigmented acrylic emulsion, Wilson reacts to the developing composition established by the previous day’s work. Through improvisation, discovery, and free association, he builds the surface layer by layer, creating works that are distinctly hand-made, where sensitivity and touch leave visible traces of the artist’s hand.

Patrick Wilson ​​​​​(b. 1970 in Redding, CA) received his Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA and his Bachelor of Arts from University of California, Davis, CA. Wilson has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA; University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA; Marx & Zavaterro, San Francisco, CA; and Curator’s Office, Washington, D.C. His work has been exhibited in numerous institutions including The Ahmanson Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; The Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA; and the San José Museum of Art, San José CA, among others.His work may be found in the collections of the Achenbach Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College, Claremont, CA; Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, West Palm Beach, FL Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL; Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; The Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul, MN; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN; North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art, Chapman University, Orange, CA; San José Museum of Art, San José, CA; University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA; and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN. Wilson lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.