An enchanting and representative piece from Houston artist Michael Roque Collins, whose work and reputation have grown in tandem over the past 40 years.

Collins has long explored the theme of nature overtaking a decayed and exhausted human monumentalism. Thick vegetation often represents nature’s force: it “erupts with life amidst abandoned factories, decaying ancient roman buildings and other vestiges of a collapsed human presence…nature becomes a punitive element” (Michael Collins).

The present work features arches that evoke the ruins of the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum. From the arches one looks down and out onto vegetative growth mixed with the dark and smoky excrescences of industrial activity. From the artist we understand the burnt sienna structure at right to be an oil storage tank.

The canvas thus becomes a contested space in which the ultimate victor among these formidable contenders is undetermined. Even what constitutes victory is an open question. Nature’s punishments can become penances that renew a faltering humanity, and there is no assurance that the momentary encroachments of industrialism will result in its permanent ascendancy.

Collins is currently represented by LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe as well as Foltz Fine Art in Houston.

This is a beautiful piece for any home and an excellent art investment.

Oil on linen.

20” x 28” unframed.