Pocket Review Olivia Zubko combines our favored legends with humankind’s most sacred pillars: beauty and bathrooms.

October 20, 2026 — 2 min read

Olivia Zubko, “Wishing Well” (2026), glazed porcelain, plastic (all photos Natalie Jenkins/ Hyperallergic )

Perhaps because it appeals to universal truths, we can’t seem to shake classical mythology. Humans, then and now, are freaks, drawn to stories of trickery and violence.

Not a pleasant revelation, but it may explain why Nymphaeum , Chicago-based artist Olivia Zubko’s solo show at Western Exhibitions, is so beguiling. The show combines our favored legends with humankind’s most sacred pillars: beauty and bathrooms. In this marriage, Zubko’s work is striking, pervaded by the unsettled discomfort of intimacy.

Zubko’s wall sculptures are altars to lavatories, their devotional air echoing historical nymphaeums — monuments consecrated to water nymphs.…