Press Release

Michael Roque Collings Corpus Sanctum

May 31 - July 12, 2025 

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 31, 4-6 pm

LOS/NR is thrilled to present a solo retrospective show of accomplished artist Michael Roque Collins and his most impactful works created between 1990 to 2000. This period was pivotal in the evolution of his art practice from a photorealistic water media-based practice to large scale expressionistic, symbolist works in impasto oil paint, imbuing ominous, apocalyptic and other-worldly scenes of imaginary landscapes, reflecting a tumultuous time of his own personal growth and change. Collins’ work perfectly displays the idea that the body is the temple of the spirit, the being as a whole doesn’t deny but embraces and develops the unseen aspects of existence. 

In philosophy, religion and spiritual practice, spirit is the vital principle or animating essence within humans and all sentient beings that gives life and consciousness. It can be seen as that which involves the immaterial, subtle, and non-physical, In Plato's theory of the soul, thymos (spiritedness) is the part of the soul that is associated with emotions like anger and courage. Hegel's concept of "Absolute Spirit" refers to the highest form of spirit, which is characterized by self-consciousness and the ability to understand the world and its place in it. Even Nietzsche acknowledged and used the term "free spirit" to describe individuals who are independent thinkers and creators of new values. 

In deeper understanding of our own lives and each its own purpose, it is important to acknowledge and cultivate the spiritual in art, addressing themes of the unseen realm, pursue deep meanings, and explore transcendence. In alignment with a long tradition reflecting the spiritual in art, from ancient worship objects to the modern expressionists such as Kandinsky’s Blaue Reiter, Collins is exploring this idea of the wholistic, the intensity and terrible beauty of the unseen and seen together. 

“Corpus Sanctum” explores realities beyond the physical, our perceptions, emotions, psychological states and that inner essence of the spirit as way a to move toward a deeper understanding of life. Collins’ work profoundly and brilliantly explores this concept, corpus sanctum, the body (physical) is the temple of the spirit (unseen). His mystic landscapes incorporate memories, ideas, connections that reflect a deep cogitation of life and its meaning. These works speak difficult truths, and portray a type of calming but erratic terrible beauty, the calm before or after the storm.

About the Artist

Michael Roque Collins is an artist recognized for producing some of the most profoundly affecting figurative Post Symbolist paintings seen today in contemporary art. He was born in Houston, Texas in 1955 and maintains his primary studio in the gulf coast city with wife, Gayle. His works have been favorably reviewed in a variety of international arts publications, such as Art News Magazine, Art In America, Art Lies, and Art World Magazine. Collins has had over 50 solo exhibitions at nationally and internationally recognized gallery and museum venues including LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Gerald Peters Gallery in Dallas, Texas, Art Space/Virginia Miller Galleries in Miami, Florida, Redbud Gallery in Houston, Texas, La Galerie K in Paris, France, and spaces in Santiago, Cuba, Berlin and Leipzig, Germany. His works may be seen in 13 museums in the U.S., including The Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, Texas, Bass Museum in Miami, Florida, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Louisiana, the El Paso Museum of Art in San Antonio, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, as well numerous corporate collections. His art has been curated in more than 250 group exhibitions in the U.S., Cuba, Peru, Germany, China, Mexico, France, Denmark, Greece, India, and Turkey. His paintings have received more than 50 juried awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts-Middle American Arts Alliance grant for excellence in painting and works on paper, as well as three Cultural Arts Council of Houston grant awards for excellence in painting.

Collins has held many university teaching positions and is currently the Senior Director of the Visual Arts Department, at Houston Christian University, where he is also Artist-in-Residence in Painting, Professor of Art and focuses on teaching in the MFA program. From Ruins To Resurrection/Sacred Landscapes of Michael Roque Collins, a hardbound publication of his work published in 2009 by Halcyon Press, features essays by Ken Marvel, owner/director of LewAllen Galleries; Jim Edwards, a distinguished curator and expert of the art of the American West; and Edward Lucie-Smith, an internationally renowned art writer in England and author of more than 100 canonical texts covering the themes found in contemporary art.