# What Will You See at David Kroll’s New Paintings at Zolla/Lieberman Chicago? By Marius Pașculea | 2026-11-07 HTML version: https://antre.art/blog/david-kroll-new-paintings-zolla-lieberman-chicago-what-to-know/ > David Kroll: New Paintings at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, River North, November 6 – December 23, 2026: still lifes and imagined landscapes of birds, fish and porcelain. Free admission. ## Short answer *David Kroll: New Paintings* opened at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, 325 West Huron Street, Chicago, on November 6, 2026, and runs through December 23, 2026. The exhibition presents recent works by the Chicago-trained painter: meticulously rendered still lifes and imagined landscapes in which birds, fish, delicate eggs and porcelain vessels inhabit carefully constructed environments. ## Key facts - **Who:** David Kroll, an American painter known for meticulously detailed still lifes and atmospheric, imagined landscapes informed by Renaissance and Baroque painting and nineteenth-century Romanticism. - **What:** *New Paintings*, an exhibition of recent oil paintings that explore the relationship between humanity and the natural world. - **Where:** Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, 325 West Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60654. - **When:** November 6 – December 23, 2026. - **Admission:** Free. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM, and Saturday, 11 AM to 5 PM. ## What will you see? Still lifes and landscapes suspended in time. Kroll's compositions place birds, fish, delicate eggs, fruit and decorative porcelain vessels against expansive landscapes and atmospheric skies, so that familiar objects take on unexpected relationships and the boundary between observation and imagination blurs. The new works include *Seascape (Egret, Vase, and Butterflies)*, a 60-by-84-inch canvas; *Nocturne (Four Koi)*; and small, concentrated panels like *Floral Still Life (Bees)*. Kroll builds his paintings through successive layers of paint, producing luminous surfaces with subtle tonal variations. Beneath their apparent tranquility runs a tension between nature and human intervention: central to his practice is the idea of painting as a place of refuge, and a longing for a natural world from which contemporary life has become increasingly removed. ## Why does this exhibition matter? Kroll's connection to Chicago is deep. Born in Phoenix in 1956 and raised in LaPorte, Indiana, he earned his MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1986, and has presented numerous solo exhibitions at Zolla/Lieberman, a [commercial contemporary art gallery](https://antre.art/blog/what-is-a-commercial-contemporary-art-gallery/) in River North, over the years. His work is held in public and private collections including the Boise Art Museum and the MacArthur Foundation. The gallery's Office Gallery concurrently presents *Stephanie Brooks: Referential Minimalism and Textuality*, so a visit covers two shows. ## How do you visit? Zolla/Lieberman is at 325 West Huron Street in River North, open Tuesday to Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM, and Saturday, 11 AM to 5 PM; it is closed Sunday and Monday, and admission is free. Kroll's layered surfaces reward close, unhurried looking; our guide to [cultural mediation](https://antre.art/blog/what-is-cultural-mediation/) explains how to meet a work on its own terms. ## FAQ ### When is David Kroll: New Paintings on view? The exhibition opened on November 6, 2026, and runs through December 23, 2026. ### Does it cost anything? No. Admission to Zolla/Lieberman Gallery is free. ### What kind of paintings will I see? Meticulously rendered still lifes and imagined landscapes with birds, fish, eggs and porcelain vessels, informed by Dutch still-life painting and nineteenth-century Romanticism. ### Is there another show at the gallery? Yes. The Office Gallery concurrently presents *Stephanie Brooks: Referential Minimalism and Textuality*, on the same November 6 to December 23 schedule. ## About Antre Antre is building an app that gives artworks their context, starting with New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Join the waiting list at antre.art. ## Sources - Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, exhibition page for *David Kroll: New Paintings*: dates, works, artist biography and exhibition description. - Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, contact page: address and hours. More context: our guides to [Yuan Goang-Ming's Everyday War at Wrightwood 659](https://antre.art/blog/yuan-goang-ming-everyday-war-wrightwood-659-what-to-know/) and [Karla Wong's Journeys of Being at the Intuit Museum](https://antre.art/blog/karla-wong-journeys-of-being-intuit-museum-what-to-know/). ## Be first when Antre opens. Join the waiting list for Antre, the adaptive cultural mediation app for Art Explorers, with hyper-personalized cultural context for every artwork, and Antre Art Voice, for galleries, artist-run spaces, artists and curators. One email at launch. Email address Join the waiting list Company I agree to receive an Antre launch email. I can withdraw anytime. [Privacy Policy](/privacy-policy/).