Contemporary Art Matters is pleased to present The way of things, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Los Angeles–based Icelandic artist Heimir Björgúlfsson. His paintings portray the intersection of wildlife and human culture with both a playful spirit and a sense of the sublime, reflecting on wildlife adaptations in response to the challenges of coexisting with humanity.

A native of Reykjavik, Iceland, Heimir Björgúlfsson was brought up in the unspoiled surroundings of the Icelandic landscape. Moving to Amsterdam to study art, he was struck by the contrast between these two environments. Where once he had been immersed in nature, he now inhabited a place profoundly altered by human forces. This formative experience became indelibly imprinted on his imagination, remaining a lasting influence on the ideas that drive his work. Having moved to the West Coast and made Los Angeles his home for more than a decade, Björgúlfsson writes of its influence: “Living and working in Los Angeles, I continue to draw inspiration from the city’s unique interplay between the artificial and the natural, its layered histories, and its diverse cultural fabric. My perspective remains informed by these geographic and cultural contrasts.”

In The way of things, Björgúlfsson presents a new series of paintings inspired by his fascination with the diverse sensory abilities developed by wildlife that operate beyond human perception. Musing on a myriad of nonhuman abilities—such as bats using echolocation, hawkmoths perceiving floral colors beneath the faintest starlight, hummingbirds detecting ultraviolet hues invisible to the human eye, and butterflies tasting through receptors on their feet—Björgúlfsson allows these wondrous attributes to collide with human history, culture, and our impulse to anthropomorphize, creating unexpected narratives within his paintings.

Sharing the same habitat, we live alongside countless animals, often without awareness of their presence. By imagining a crossroads between these parallel yet vastly different experiences, Björgúlfsson creates surprising conjunctions that invite a greater appreciation of the beauty, intelligence, and vulnerability of our fellow creatures as they navigate an increasingly human-shaped world.