Opening Reception: Friday, May 30, 6–8 pm
Derek Eller Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of historic works from 1970-72 by Chicago artist Robert Lostutter (b.1939). This will be Lostutter’s first solo exhibition in New York City.
Lostutter is best known for his illusory paintings of androgynous male-avian hybrids. The precursor to this subversive zoomorphism included years of experimenting with quasi- masochistic human bodies suspended in surreal, theatrical landscapes. Lostutter spent much of the 1970s investigating the bridge between human, animal, and geometric forms in watercolor and oil.
His deft watercolors openly converse with the bodily compositions of Richard Lindner but deviate to engage with questions of gender identity, self-expression, transformation, play, pain, privacy, and fantasy. Costumed figures suggest participation within a larger theatrical production hidden from view. Ambiguous surreal elements dominate some arrangements, alluding to divisional landscapes and partitioned identities.
These watercolors, though wildly realized on their own, were most often studies for larger oil paintings, one of which will be included in the exhibition. Further, these works show the artist at the seedling stages of actualizing his trademark bird-people which took years to become fully formed. This steady evolution underscores his relentless, singular vision.
Robert Lostutter 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 in Chicago. This will be his first exhibition with the gallery.