Artistic language is one of the strongest influences in our modern society, shaping the way we see and interact with the world today. Contemporary art challenges us to think critically and to participate actively in society. In a world that is constantly changing, art remains vigilant, bringing people together through its expression. Yet it never ceases to amaze us that incoherencies persist in contemporary society—cyclical, and even excessively repetitive. It is also remarkable that two artists from such different geographies and cultures—even with differing life circumstances—can find such common ground in their unease with these discrepancies.

Although their methods of materialization are deeply personal and inimitable—Chema Alvargonzalez with his works of light and image layering, and Einar Grinde with his replication of black as a delicate skin of emptiness that also materializes in abundance—both artists grapple with and express a society that insists on being a “nothingness.” There is an enormous void towards which we cannot look, grasp, or idealize, because, in general, contemporary society has lost the powerful tool of establishing progress between the past and the present, and of confronting the future.