Michael Roque Collins, Setting Beyond Chama (detail), 2022-23, oil on linen, 30 x 80 in.

To call painter Michael Roque Collins’ upcoming LewAllen Galleries exhibit a departure might be a little strong, but In the Chama, Where the Spirit Flows feels more classically representative than some of Collins’ more recent bodies of work. Chama imparts memory, or at least a dreamlike representation thereof. Collins has spent countless days in New Mexico over the years—flyfishing, painting, exploring—and might just find Chama one of the most beautiful places on Earth. How he winds up creating gorgeous expressionistic versions of the area, however, differs from what one might assume of a landscape artist.