Reception: October 5, 5:30-7:30
Santa Fe, NM –With a remarkably protean fluency, Michael Roque Collins produces some of the most deeply affecting figurative expressionism seen today in contemporary art. His lush oil paintings rip deep meaning from thick paint and bold line. Layering and slicing through paint with his brush and palette knife, he mines the metaphorical mysteries of iconic imagery—and, especially, the powerful archetypal symbols of decay and new life. A new body of photo paintings along with the oils brings remarkable transformation and energy to what once was mere mechanical reproduction. For both his style and subject matter, Collins has been described by critics as one of the most unique painters whose work is exhibited in Santa Fe.
This new body of painting and photo painting bears homage to the opportunities for spiritual transcendence that arise from contemplation of the continuous cycling between creation and destruction, order and disorder, enlightenment and darkness, reality and imagination, memory and history—all aspects of the human condition and the natural world. With its intense explorations of the dilemmas of a Post-Modern world, Collins’ work has been said to have an American spiritual resonance with that of Anselm Kiefer or Gerhard Richter. Collins certainly has a profound capacity for uncovering imagistic light in metaphorical fields of darkness. His paintings are mythic conduits to our memories of the sublime and revelatory visual parables of hope for the future.
As explained in his artist statement, Collins strives for his “future work [to] stand as evidence communicating the terrible beauty of our time and the creative struggles required to maintain honesty.” Portraying a truthful representation of the human condition is integral to Collins’ metaphorical imagery. Ideas emerge from visions in his dreams, derived from both the conscious and the unconscious mind. The mysterious quality created by the combination of light, color and subject reveals the presence of emotions understood by the collective unconscious. The hidden and obscured use of light seems to come from within, augmenting the sense of the unknown that surrounds the portrayal of the human condition.
Collins’ photo paintings, though quite different from the oils, exhibit equally thought-provoking imagery. These images layer ethereal, painted elements on top of photographic images. This juxtaposition blurs the distinction between reality and creation, heightening the sense of fantasy and imagination. Sometimes the painted surface completely obscures the photograph underneath, while other times more of the original image remains visible. The veiled surface of the photograph incurs a reconsideration of what separates the reality of the photograph from what is painted. Like his paintings, his photo paintings relate “to my body movement and to the texture of surface, both its opacity and translucency.” The opaque and translucent qualities generate an interchange of light, shadow and texture, evoking the same sense of intrigue present in his oil paintings.
A variety of influences are acknowledged by Collins as significant to his foundation as an artist, including Max Beckmann, Charles Burchfield, and the Hudson River School. Though these influences were important in his artistic development, his distinctive style originates from his personal conception of light, value, color and line. Primitive art also provides him with exposure to the strength and directness of the expression of the supernatural within the natural environment of daily human life.
A native to the Gulf Coast of Texas, Collins draws his figurative symbols from personal experience and most especially his lucid dreams full of icons from ancient cultures and mythic traditions. Collins earned a BFA from the University of Houston in 1978, and later earned an MFA in painting from the Southern Methodist University. In addition to directing the Lowell Collins School of Art in Houston since 1975, he has held teaching positions at several Texas universities. He has shown his work in countless solo and group exhibitions since the mid-1970s in galleries across the country. His work has been exhibited in numerous museums and other public institutions and is included in some of the nation’s most prominent public and private collections.
LewAllen Contemporary is open 9:30-5:30 Monday through Saturday and 11:00-5:00 Sunday. Michael Roque Collins’ Memory Gardens opens Friday, October 5, and closes Sunday, October 28, 2007. For further information please contact Diane Kell at (505) 988-8997 or [email protected].
