Jane Pronko’s paintings of realist street scenes in Kansas City are familiar to many. But the full range of her oeuvre has not been seen until now, in what amounts to a mini-retrospective at The Late Show gallery. This concise, impressive exhibit, which covers more than 30 years of work, has been sensitively selected and installed by gallery director Tom Deatherage. It includes drawings, prints, watercolors, and pastels, many never shown before, and there are some lovely surprises.
Pronko is best known, deservedly so, for her moody, dusky highway depictions of cars with beaming headlights and unseen drivers. These works are not just beautifully painted; they evoke psychological states of isolation, even estrangement. In dreams, cars are often surrogates for people, and many of Pronko’s street scenes seem to be mental projections of contemporary malaise.
“Sorry, But I Can’t Take You” is the largest painting in the show. With its minimalist, blocky images of dark cars driving over an even darker highway, it is also one of the most visually powerful. The shadowy images of separate automobiles could also signify the kind of alienation endemic to an American society that promotes individualism over community.
“Way Out,” with its grey/brown tonalities and a highway that empties into nothingness, is another terrific characterization of isolation paired with the possibility of adventure.
Pronko demonstrates her drawing chops in two graphite drawings, both of which are smoky depictions of cars and streets that seem barely to connect. Even in black and white, she manages to surreptitiously depict the reflections of light from wet pavement, and once again she situates us within a dreamscape.
Pronko frequently paints night scenes, many of which are of actual sites in Kansas City, in which she maximizes the effects of bright light from automobile headlights. “Making It Through the Night,” “Right Turn Off Main,” and “Exit Broadway,” are all jazzy, virtuoso displays of her ability to paint reflected light, and her agility at creating scenes that are both sexy and somewhat menacing.
Landscape imagery often appears on the outskirts of Pronko’s highway paintings. One of the revelations in this retrospective is “Sanctuary,” a large-scale, vertical painting from 1998 of an unpeopled riverscape that possesses a melancholy, if calming, stillness.
Several small to midsize paintings hung next to one another highlight fall foliage on the sides of roadways, and these nature scenes are painted thoughtfully and with clear affection.
Two small watercolors from 1987, both interior factory scenes with male and female employees, are an unexpected pleasure. “Working Life” is a small, horizontal portrayal in which ladders, stairs, pillars, hanging lights, and tractors all visually intersect in a crazy grid pattern. It’s probably no accident that Pronko paints both men and women as blue-collar workers; in most of her works she interjects a little touch, such as this, that makes us look twice.
“Jane Pronko: An Overview” continues at The Late Show, 1600 Cherry St., through Oct. 29, when the gallery will hold a closing reception from 1 to 6 p.m. Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment. For more information, 816.516.6749.
Love this piece. Piece is really impressive.