Opening Reception, Lana Scholtz: Centrifuge

smoke the moon presents Centrifuge, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Lana Scholtz. The Albuquerque, NM based artist will exhibit a suite of large scale, saturated oil paintings on linen throughout smoke the moon’s main gallery space. Scholtz received an MFA in Painting from UNM in 2025. This is the artist’s debut solo show in Santa Fe. The works in Centrifuge are filled with layered vision, the prismatic force of the universe on full display.

A gravitational language with mysterious laws emerges in Scholtz’s paintings. Her scenes depict the helixed relationship between internal and external worlds. Objects yield toward an unknown center, compelled by great forces. The center never holds, and a kaleidoscopic system transforms recognizable structures into otherworldly terrains. The material research for Centrifuge traversed physics, anatomy and the earth sciences. Scholtz’s paintings play within the phantasmic outer limits of the scientific world.