Hernan Bas, “Against the Stream,” 2013.

Hernan Bas relocated to Detroit several years ago. It’s a move that appears, on canvas, to have been a great choice. Although his paintings never really disappeared here in Miami, he has a number of works up now, at the Snitzer Gallery for a solo show of new works, at MOCA in its 15th-anniversary show, and for Locust Projects’ upcoming Spring Fling auction, also part of its own 15th-anniversary celebration.

Which is as it should be. Stop in at Snitzer for “Boys in Peril?” and you will remember, or realize, why Bas is considered one of the best painters to come out of Miami, why he has captured an international following. While typically dense, with intense colors dripping from the canvases, oils taking on 3-D qualities, these latest works seem to have had time on their side, a slowed-down process in their creation. Maybe up there in a more depressed and certainly a physically much darker city, a slower pace is possible, a more contemplative space available, even imposed, by the environment (German composers and poets thought so). Whatever the case, these are superb paintings.

But in fact, Bas suggests such Northern European angst and aesthetics in the influences for this show. As inspiration, Bas points to the 19th-century French writer J.K. Huysman, who wrote this: “…he realized the futility of changing direction, the sterility of all enthusiasm and all effort. ‘You have to let yourself go with the flow, Schopenhauer is right,’ he told himself, “‘Man’s life swings like a pendulum between pain and boredom.” So there’s no point trying to speed up or slow down the rhythm of its swings; all we can do is fold our arms and try to get to sleep…’”

In the gallery notes, Bas goes on to say that he admires Huysman for finding a similar relationship between dandyism and darkness to his own explorations, along with a relationship with life and boredom. Of a novel of the author’s he recently read, Bas writes: “It’s a rather depressing read simply because nothing actually happens.”

We’ve come to know Bas himself almost as a novelist – his characters recur, always peering into an uncertain future. This time around, those boys faces fear they are in peril, surrounded by swirling, ominous clouds, “clouds” comprised of untamed nature and a questionable road ahead.

“Boys in Peril?” runs through May 27 at Snitzer Gallery, 2247 NW 1st Pl., Miami; snitzer.com. Locust Projects’ Spring Fling auction preview (open to members and ticket holders) is this Friday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m. at 3852 N. Miami Ave., Miami; RSVP to [email protected].