September 20, 2019

 

Within the High Renaissance, tondos, or circular paintings, depicted naturalistic figures who often had spiritual relevance. Like the tondos of the so-called “Old Masters,” Nancy Pletos’s Roadside Tondo views its subject matter with a deep admiration, albeit through the use of a less than traditional aesthetic. Birds, lizards, deer, flowers and thick black lined pebbles overflow from Pletos’s circular frame. Her use of thick resin and flattened perspective likens the wildlife to textured stickers, slapped exuberantly onto the green-ish taupe backdrop that barely peeks through. Candy colored mountains crest here and there, music notes hover around birds, and sprinkles of color dance across the whole of the work, emphasizing a child-like idealization of the landscape. Through the middle, a strip of road and a curving yellow sign lean into the center of the scenery. They give the painting a particular sense of movement, capturing the fleeting terrain as if seen from a car window on a road trip.  

Pletos packs the piece with uncontrollable glee that one cannot help but be swept up in. She is successful in establishing a feeling of magic and potential that only riding off into her orange tendrils of sunshine can deliver on. Despite the childish way her subjects are rendered, Pletos endows them with importance and beauty that pleads for one to embrace adventure and view the world in a more colorful way. 

Nancy Pletos received her MFA in painting from Wayne State in 1974. There, she studied under fellow Cass Corridor artist John Egner. Despite her painting background, Pletos turned to sculptural work shortly before, and for much longer after, graduating. Many of her sculptures incorporated wood as a medium and utilized mixed media techniques which often featured materials such as feathers, rhinestones, beads, and mirror fragments. Originally from Detroit, Pletos’s career took her to New York in 1976 and Chicago in 1979 where she successfully showed her work until moving back to Michigan in 2004. Pletos was known for her innovative use of material and exploration of how nature and the man-made world intersect. 

Written by Samantha Hohmann 
 

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