Scenes of a transforming Texas oil town on display at Wright Gallery
Intricately textured oil paintings by artist Catherine Allen that depict scenes from Midland, Texas, her hometown, are on display in “En Route,” in the Wright Gallery, Langford A. The exhibit is on display through March 3.
Allen uses photographic images from the periphery of her daily life in Midland, an area known for oil and gas production and a boom-or-bust economy. These photographs become source material in the construction of descriptive digital mockups that are translated into images created with oil paint. For Allen, art is a pursuit that feeds off day-to-day existence.
“I identify closely with the natural and built environments that I paint,” said Allen. “The transformation I see occurring in my hometown reminds me that we are moving forward into a future I can’t yet know, and my work is an attempt to see into that future by appreciating the present and documenting change.”
