In Zaki Christ’s debut solo exhibition Nothing But Mammals, the body of work encapsulates the artist’s deep fascination with herd mentality through a series of large-scale, paintings of buffalo and wall-mounted sculptures inspired by whale bellies. Christ transforms the space using the dichotomy of water and land: as one peers at the underbellies of a pod of whales, a herd of buffalo simultaneously parade across the opposite wall. Enchanted by the aforementioned animals since childhood, Christ tells us that his “fixation with these creatures is not just curiosity. I see these fellow mammals as undeniable counterparts to mankind.” Drawing parallels between the animal kingdom and human civilization, Christ’s chaotic paintings and monochromatic sculptures provide striking visual commentary. Intrigued by the ideas of groupthink and its manifestations, Christ reflects, “we as a society operate under the same conditions as other communal animals. We can’t help but require the group to make us feel whole. Herd mentality is an underpinning to our existence. This idea follows me like a shadow…”

To create these ethereal works, Christ sourced fallen palm fronds from his native city of Los Angeles, wetting the dehydrated plant material and reshaping them by hand. After casting the altered fronds with gypsum cement, Christ continues to carve out and reshape the solidified form, intentionally hollowing out the sculptures to create dynamic shadows that are cast against the wall. These works contain the natural color of gypsum cement and slight organic pigmentation transferred from the casting process.