Zolla/Lieberman Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of the Chicago gallery season with a solo exhibition featuring the work of renowned Chicago artist Riva Lehrer. The Monster Studio will be on view from September 6 to October 12, 2024.

Lehrer will perform a public portrait studio for the show’s six-week run. She has invited a selection of distinguished collaborators, including: artists/authors/performers/podcasters/critics Reveca Torres, Stephen T. Asma, Brandy Schillace, Jill Casid, Anna Campbell, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Lori Waxman, Michael Rakowitz, and Esther Grimm.

Each collaborator will be asked to describe—and collaboratively draw—an image depicting their inner “monsterselves.” These will be public conversations; viewers are invited to observe and comment through the process. resulting in portraits created through deep conversation.

Schedule of Participants
September 7th
Steven Asma
​Steven Asma is a Professor of Philosophy at Columbia College Chicago, where he is a Senior Fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science, and Culture. He has authored ten books on topics ranging from science and religion to monsters and the human imagination. His work often explores the intersections of culture, art, and the human experience.
September 10th / September 11th

Lori Waxman
​Lori Waxman is a Chicago-based art critic and historian, best known for her “60 wrd/min art critic” performance, where she writes live art reviews in real-time. She is also a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, specializing in contemporary art and criticism.
September 13th / September 14th

Jeffrey Cohen
​Jeffrey J. Cohen is Dean of Humanities at Arizona State University and a scholar in medieval studies, monster theory, and environmental humanities. His notable works include Stone: An Ecology of the Inhuman and the collaborative books Earth and Noah’s Arkive.
September 17th / September 19th

Esther Grimm
​Esther Grimm is the former Executive Director of 3Arts, a nonprofit organization that supports artists of color, women artists, and artists with disabilities working in the Chicago area. She served on Mayor Lightfoot’s Cultural Advisory Council and has received several awards, including the Diversity Award from the College Art Association and the Kathryn V. Lamkey Spirit of Diversity Award.
September 18th / September 20th

Revecca Torres
​Revecca Torres is a disability advocate and the founder of Backbones, a nonprofit organization that connects people with spinal cord injuries and promotes social inclusion. Her work focuses on empowering individuals with disabilities and raising awareness about accessibility issues.
September 24th thru September 27th

Brandi Shillace
​Brandy Schillace is a medical historian, author, TV personality, and editor, known for her acclaimed nonfiction works Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher and The Intermediaries, as well as the mystery novel The Framed Women of Ardmore House. Schillace, who is non-binary and autistic, continues to focus on issues of accessibility, social justice, and LGBTQ+ rights in her role as editor-in-chief of BMJ’s Medical Humanities Journal.
October 1st / October 3rd

Michael Rakowitz
​Michael Rakowitz is an Iraqi-American artist known for his conceptual art projects that address issues of displacement, cultural heritage, and the impact of war. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
October 4th / October 5th

Jill H. Casid
​Jill H. Casid is a Professor of Visual Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working across Art History and Gender & Women’s Studies. Casid explores queer, trans*feminist, and decolonial themes in their art, writing, and research, exhibiting internationally. They are a widely published author and have received numerous awards for their contributions to academia, including the Kellett Mid-Career Award.

Riva Lehrer is an artist, writer, and curator who focuses on the socially challenged body. She is best known for representations of people whose physical embodiment, sexuality, or gender identity have long been stigmatized.

Lehrer’s work has been seen in venues including the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian, Yale University, the United Nations, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, the Arnot Museum, the DeCordova Museum, the Frye Museum, the Chicago Cultural Center, and the State of Illinois Museum.

Awards include the 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship from the Ford Foundation, 2017 3Arts MacDowell Fellowship for writing, 2017 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant; 2015 3Arts Residency Fellowship at the University of Illinois; 2014 Carnegie Mellon Fellowship at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges; 2009 Prairie Fellowship at the Ragdale Foundation. Grants include the 2009 Critical Fierceness Grant, the 2008 3Arts Foundation Grant, and the 2006 Wynn Newhouse Award for Excellence, (NYC), as well as grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the University of Illinois, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lehrer’s memoir, Golem Girl, was published by the One World imprint of Penguin/Random House in October 2020, won the 2020 Barbellion Prize for Literature; was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and was shortlisted for the Chicago Review of Books 2020 CHIRBY Awards.

Lehrer was a longtime faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is an instructor in the Medical Humanities Departments of Northwestern University.

Official Website

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