Review.

Walking through a white porch and into the 1912 mansion, I was met with the scent of polished wood and sunlight spilling across artwork that made it clear I was in a sacred area for the next generation of creatives. This historic space, known as the Turner House, is home to the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts, which hosted the 12th annual Rising Stars Exhibition.

 

The event was held in Oak Cliff, Texas, to show Dallas’ top 18 emerging artists who are not represented by galleries. The exhibition opened Sept. 20 with a ticketed reception from 7 to 9 p.m., honoring the 18 artists who were nominated by last year’s honorees. The occasion contributed to a fundraiser supporting the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts and the preservation of the Turner House.

 

A free public exhibition followed the reception night, where art filled every corner of the Turner House. Pieces hung along living and dining room walls, lined stairways and even extended into the bathrooms, turning the event into a maze of beautiful work.

 

I went to the exhibition on Sept. 21 expecting a showcase of upcoming talent. What I didn’t expect was to be stopped in my tracks by Hugh DeWitte, an artist who attended the Kansas City Art Institute and resides in Dallas.

 

In a city full of culture, tall buildings and rapid growth, his artwork stays a constant reminder of what connects it all — highways. What feels chaotic in the driver’s seat transforms into a pattern and rhythm on a canvas. DeWitte’s first published collection, “Highwayscapes,” highlights a free-form improvisational style focusing on the Dallas highway lines.

 

“Part of the highwayscapes is when you're driving and all the road rage and the constant spinning and getting over and doing this and doing that,” DeWitte said. “And people are so selfish and just crazy, is it that important to get where you need to go?”

 

As DeWitte mirrors the chaos in Texas highways, his style continues to transform in his recent collections. Tucked between the living room and bathroom of Turner House was “Citylife,” a work that is part of his “Circular Sightings” series. The artwork continues from “Highwayscapes,” emphasizing circular motions.

 

“The ‘Circular Sightings’ is all about that angst and that circular motion and unquestioned spinning of life,” DeWitte said. 

 

DeWitte’s “Citylife” was displayed at a starting price of $450. The artwork is made with oil, collage and pencil on paper, a less expensive type of free-form painting commonly bought by starting collectors. It’s an approach that feels humble, breaking the idea that art has to be made with expensive material and live behind glass walls in a museum.

 

Despite the limited time the piece was shown at the Turner House, DeWitte’s collections can be purchased from his studio in Dallas, where he is already experimenting with new forms. 

 

“I've been getting cigar boxes and dismantling them and putting them together into canvases,” DeWitte said. “I screw them all together and make canvases out of them, and then I'm going to be doing urban scapes, more industrial aerial views of skyscrapers and highways and scenes.”

 

His upcoming artwork feels like a reflection of Dallas, a city always changing, building, and pushing forward.