Contemporary Art Matters is pleased to present the highly anticipated exhibition of new works by Solomon Adu . This is the emerging artist’s debut solo show with the gallery featuring pieces that express the vision of a new generation. The exhibition will be on view at the gallery’s 243 N 5th Street, Columbus, OH location from June 19th through July 10th, with an opening reception on Thursday, June 19th, from 5-7 PM.

Solomon Adu is an up-and-coming Ghanaian artist from Accra, Columbus, Ohio’s sister city. He is celebrated for his vibrantly colored, large-scale portraits and his portrayals of the intimacy of everyday life, reflecting on themes of community values and environmental sustainability. Born in Nkoranza, in the Bono East region of Ghana, Adu developed his artistic practice under the mentorship of several respected Ghanaian artists, including Mozzay in Nima, Accra, and as an apprentice to Rufai Zakari. Their guidance shaped his deep commitment to sustainable and upcycled art practices.

Working with discarded materials such as bright vinyl posters, used educational booklets, and waste flexi banners, Adu threads together these eye-catching elements, playfully rearranging printed advertisements to construct imagery that is both descriptive and conceptual. His collage technique, marked by bold stitching and dynamic patterning, transforms fragments of plastic refuse into visual pathways that explore form, tactility, and cultural narrative. Excerpts cut from abandoned promotional materials, snippets referencing the everyday, evoke broader themes of community, education, and well-being when woven into his work.

These themes come to the fore in Adu’s expansive work Humanity. Two seated figures, a child and an adult, engage with one another in the center of the piece, anchoring the composition in human connection. Inspired by the legacy of Princess Diana, Adu portrays her during one of her charitable missions. Here she represents the ideal, the true humanity within us. During the creation of this piece, Adu reclaimed a poster banner that had become roadside trash. He writes, “Amidst other discarded waste I collected, this particular flyer sparked an idea. I deconstructed and then reconstructed it to symbolize a barrier – a separation between the current chaos and a more harmonious future I envision.” In this collage, the barrier becomes a metaphor for protecting our humanity. Adu’s concern for societal progress often touches upon specific issues facing his community. In his Kayayo Series , he constructs work that empathetically considers the circumstances faced by Kayayo girls, young women who leave their rural homes to work as porters in Ghana’s busy city marketplaces.