Opening Reception: Robert Lostutter and Kristi Cavataro

Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at 4:30pm
Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery

Free and open to the public.

This intergenerational exhibition brings together an abridged survey of Robert Lostutter’s paintings and drawings (from the late-1960s to the present) with Kristi Cavataro’s recent stained glass sculptural works. Reception will take place from 4:30pm to 6pm; with remarks at 4:30pm in the gallery lobby.

Robert Lostutter is known for creating meticulously-rendered hybrid human forms in surreal settings. Seemingly beatific, even when contorted with exposed innards, these adorned creatures demonstrate both a technical mastery and wild imagination that is at once bound up with and reaches beyond the human figure. Occupying the gallery’s floor, Kristi Cavataro’s sculptures, constructed out of opaque or translucent stained glass, create abstract shapes that evoke biomorphic resonances. Taking advantage of the abundant natural light of the gallery’s large windows, these closed volumes reveal an interior space defined by their color. More than a superficial skin, the color in the glass goes all the way through the medium.

Robert Lostutter (b. 1939, Kansas) lives and works in Chicago. He has had solo museum exhibitions at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, and has been included in group shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Terra Museum of American Art, and the Corcoran Gallery. Lostutter's work is included in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Madison Art Center, The Smithsonian Institute, and the Smart Museum, University of Chicago. He is represented by Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago.

Kristi Cavataro (b. 1992, Connecticut) lives and works in New York. She received her BFA from the Cooper Union in 2015. Her work was part of the group exhibition Greater New York at MoMA PS1, New York in 2021.

Exhibition on display through Sunday, March 1, 2026.

Admission is free, and everyone is welcome. We encourage you to RSVP to help us with our planning and to get a reminder the day before this event. While RSVPs are not required for entry, they are a big help! While you're on campus, feel free to talk with our gallery assistants about the exhibitions and other upcoming special programs, like our student-led tours.

Left: Robert Lostutter, "Poem for Everyone," 1972, Oil on canvas, 54 1/2 x 42 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago. Right: Kristi Cavataro, "Untitled," 2025, Stained glass, 44 x 27 1/8 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Gisela Capitain, Cologne. Photo by Simon Vogel.