Bad at Sports

Latest Episodes:

Bad at Sports Episode 916: Alex Ross and two fan boys Sep 26, 2025

Show notes

Duncan MacKenzie and Ryan Peter Miller drive up to the Dunn Museum in Libertyville, IL to talk with legendary comics painter Alex Ross. Known for Marvels, Kingdom Come, and decades of redefining superhero realism, Ross reflects on his career trajectory, his education at the American Academy of Art, his influences (from Neal Adams to Dave McKean), his early breaks with Now Comics and Leo Burnett storyboarding, and his transition into large-scale mural projects for Marvel and DC. The conversation ranges from comics history, realism in superhero depictions, variant cover economics, the physicality of superheroes, to America's appetite for dystopian narratives versus a return to the "pure Superman."

Ross is candid, funny, and deeply reflective about the comics medium, painting, and storytelling.

Name-Drop List

Artists & Writers

Alex Ross — https://www.alexrossart.com/ | @alexrossart
Neal Adams – https://nealadams.com/
George Pérez – https://www.tcj.com/george-perez-1954-2022/
Jack Kirby – https://kirbymuseum.org/
Dave McKean – https://www.davemckean.com/
Neil Gaiman — neilgaiman.com | @neilhimself
Chris Ware – https://art21.org/artist/chris-ware/
Jim Lee — https://www.dc.com/talent/jim-lee @jimlee
Todd McFarlane — https://mcfarlane.com/ @toddmcfarlane
Erik Larsen — https://imagecomics.com/creators/erik-larsen @eriklarsen1138
John Tobias (Mortal Kombat) – https://www.mobygames.com/person/3326/john-tobias/
Tim Bradstreet — https://www.splashpageart.com/artistgalleryroom.asp?artistid=83 @timbradstreet
Frank Casey (Ross's Superman model) – chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://news.wttw.com/sites/default/files/article/file-attachments/The%20process_Ross%20at%20work.pdf

Institutions & Companies

Dunn Museum (Libertyville, IL) — https://www.lcfpd.org/museum/ @lcfpd
Marvel Comics — marvel.com | @marvel
DC Comics — dc.com | @dccomics
American Academy of Art (Chicago) —
Leo Burnett (advertising) – https://dev.leoburnett.com/
Now Comics (Chicago, defunct)
Eclipse Comics (defunct)
FASA (publisher of Shadowrun, BattleTech) – https://shop.fasagames.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=68
Mortal Kombat franchise — https://www.mortalkombat.com/en-us @mortalkombat

Pop Culture References

Kingdom Come (DC) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Come_(comics)
Marvels (Marvel) – https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-marvels/umc.cmc.6nb1ii3n99o7rewjyq8whcsuu
Shadowrun RPG – https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/collections/shadowrun
Vampire: The Masquerade (White Wolf) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade
The Boys (Amazon Prime) – https://www.primevideo.com/detail/The-Boys/0KRGHGZCHKS920ZQGY5LBRF7MA
Invincible (Image Comics / Amazon) – https://www.amazon.com/INVINCIBLE-SEASON-1/dp/B08WJN83XZ
Peacemaker (HBO) – https://www.hbomax.com/shows/peacemaker-2022/a939d96b-7ffb-4481-96f6-472838d104ca
Brightburn (film) – https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/brightburn/umc.cmc.4pkvqa1b6mf30wtx66vor37fq

Image: John Weinstein

Bad at Sports Episode 915 – Kenny Schachter and Bianca Bova: From Autodidact to Art World Outsider Sep 20, 2025

Show notes

In Part Two of our late-night conversation, Bad at Sports digs deeper into the remarkable trajectory of Kenny Schachter. From law school dropout to autodidact philosopher, from Sotheby's bidder to artist and teacher, Schachter traces the unlikely path that brought him into the heart of the art world — a place he insists remains strangely conservative despite all its pretenses of progress. The discussion moves between personal history and systemic critique. Schachter recounts the role of art in surviving trauma, loss, and addiction, and why surrounding himself with works by others has been both solace and education. He reflects on the stubborn conservatism of the market, celebrity crossovers from Johnny Depp to Julian Schnabel, and the tension between wanting freedom and the systems that resist it. For Schachter, art is both a lifeline and a way to comment on the world's chaos — a practice rooted in generosity, curiosity, and contradiction. This episode captures him at his most reflective and most biting, moving from humor to vulnerability and back again.

Highlights

• Schachter's first encounters with Twombly, Rauschenberg, and Frankenthaler at the National Gallery.

• The shock of Andy Warhol's estate sale in 1988.

• Dealer-to-dealer hustling as an unlikely entry into art.

• Why "there are no rules" is his best definition of being an artist.

• The paradox of an art world that markets rebellion but runs on tradition.

Names Dropped

Andy Warhol I.M. Pei, https://www.pcf-p.com/about/i-m-pei/ Chase Manhattan Bank, https://www.jpmorganchase.com/about/art-collection Christie's, https://www.christies.com/en Sotheby's, https://www.sothebys.com/en/ Phillips Auction House, https://www.phillips.com/ Patrick Drahi, https://www.artnews.com/art-collectors/top-200-profiles/patrick-drahi/ Leonard Lauder, https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/leonard-lauder-sothebys-klimt-matisse-1234751922/ The Pritzker family, https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/pritzker-art-collection-sothebys-breuer-1234751864/ Elaine Wynn, https://www.christies.com/en/events/the-collection-of-elaine-wynn Wyatt Kline, https://unframed.lacma.org/2014/01/28/contemporary-friends-acquire-ten-new-works-by-artists-from-around-the-world Alex Burns, Felix Reuter (Ryder), https://felixreuter.bandcamp.com/ Guerrilla Girls, https://www.guerrillagirls.com/ Old Friends Gallery, https://www.oldfriendsgallery.com/ David Letterman, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Letterman The Suburban, http://www.thesuburban.org/

Bad at Sports Episode 914 – Kenny Schachter: Chickens, Auctions, and Foundries (Part 1) Sep 19, 2025

Show notes

This week on Bad at Sports, Duncan MacKenzie and Ryan Peter Miller find themselves in Chicago with curator Bianca Bova and the indefatigable Kenny Schachter — artist, writer, teacher, collector, and provocateur. What begins as a conversation about Schachter's exhibition at Old Friends Gallery — featuring chicken-assisted artworks and bronze casts forged in Slovenia — quickly expands into a meditation on the art world itself. Schachter reflects on his collaborations, his obsession with foundries, and his refusal to keep resources secret. The group debates the zero-sum mentality of the art market, why artists sabotage themselves, and how absurd projects (sometimes with actual chickens) can be the most serious acts of art-making. Equal parts candid and comedic, the conversation cuts across auctions, art fairs, and the everyday realities of teaching. Expect reflections on generosity vs. gatekeeping, the fragility of the art system, and what it means to make art that is more conceptual than commercial.

Highlights

• Chickens as collaborators and muses.

• The foundry in Slovenia that casts Rudolf Stingel's panels.

• Why keeping fabricators secret is a sign of weakness.

• Auctions as democratizing, even anarchic, art spaces.

• The necessity of art in a divided and compassion-starved world.

Names Dropped

Kenny Scharf, https://kennyscharf.com/ Kenny Schachter, https://www.kennyschachter.art/ Bianca Bova, https://www.biancabovagallery.com/ Billy Connolly, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Connolly Rudolf Stingel, https://gagosian.com/artists/rudolf-stingel/ Tobias Rehberger, https://pedrocera.com/artists/tobias-rehberger Paul Thek, https://whitney.org/exhibitions/paul-thek Giacometti, https://www.moma.org/artists/2141-alberto-giacometti Jerry Saltz, https://nymag.com/author/jerry-saltz/ Cy Twombly, https://cytwombly.org/ Jasper Johns, https://whitney.org/artists/653 Robert Rauschenberg, https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/ Joan Mitchell, https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/joan-mitchell Helen Frankenthaler, https://gagosian.com/artists/helen-frankenthaler/ Georgia O'Keeffe, https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/ Andy Warhol, https://www.warhol.org/ Joseph Beuys, https://walkerart.org/collections/artists/joseph-beuys Sigmar Polke, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sigmar-polke-2213 John Cage, https://www.johncage.org/ Devendra Banhart, https://devendrabanhart.com/ Brad Pitt, https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/09/19/brad-pitt-debuts-his-sculptures-in-finland Cindy Sherman, https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/cindy-sherman/ Robert Longo, https://www.robertlongo.com/ Julian Schnabel, https://www.julianschnabel.com/ Old Friends Gallery, https://www.oldfriendsgallery.com/

Bad at Sports Episode 913: Shannon R. Stratton and Ox-Bow Sep 15, 2025

Show notes

This week, Bad at Sports reconnects with one of Chicago's most beloved curators and cultural instigators Ox-Bow School of Art's Executive Director, Shannon Stratton. From founding Threewalls to serving as Chief Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York, Stratton's career is a masterclass in weaving together artists, audiences, and institutions.

We talk about building spaces for experimental practices, sustaining feminist and craft-centered discourse, and what it means to return to Chicago after reshaping the curatorial conversation nationally. Stratton dives into the ethics of hospitality, the politics of craft, and why sometimes the most radical thing you can do is set the table.

Recorded live at EXPO 2025 in the loving space provided by the Chicago Architectural Biennial 2025

Photo by Dominique Muñoz @domo23

Name-Drop

Shannon R. Stratton - https://www.shannonraestratton.com/about
Threewalls — https://three-walls.org/
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) —https://madmuseum.org/
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts —https://www.haystack-mtn.org/
MCA Chicago — https://mcachicago.org/
Textile Society of America —https://textilesocietyofamerica.org/
The Center for Craft — https://www.centerforcraft.org/
Naomi Beckwith (curator) — https://www.guggenheim.org/about-us/staff/naomi-beckwith
Julia Bryan-Wilson (art historian) — https://arthistory.columbia.edu/content/julia-bryan-wilson
Jenni Sorkin (art historian) — https://arthistory.ucsb.edu/people/jenni-sorkin
EXPO CHICAGO - https://www.expochicago.com/
Chicago Architectural Biennial 6 - https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/

Bad at Sports Episode 912: Ben Davis Aug 28, 2025

Show notes

This week Bad at Sports goes full meta, talking about talking about art. We sit down with Ben Davis, National Art Critic for Artnet News and author of 9.5 Theses on Art and Class, to unpack the state of art criticism in 2025. Davis has been one of the sharpest voices charting the relationship between culture, economics, and media—at once insider, outsider, and always keeping his mom in mind.

From the collapse of traditional publishing to the weird vacuum left by social media, Davis doesn't just describe the cracks in the system—he names them, theorizes them, and points to where something new might emerge. We talk ZIRP (zero-interest-rate phenomena), the rise of click-driven media, what AI means for art, and why communities matter more than markets.

Listen & Follow

Ben Davis on Artnet News - https://news.artnet.com/search/Ben+Davis

@benstoppable

https://www.benadavis.com/

Name-Drop

Artnet News — news.artnet.com https://news.artnet.com/search/
Brooklyn Rail — brooklynrail.org
AI / ChatGPT — openai.com/chatgpt
Neil Young — neilyoungarchives.com
Slayer — slayer.net

Image care of... https://c4aa.org/our-research/interviews/ben-davis/

Bad at Sports Episode 911: Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

Recorded live from the Chicago Architectural Biennial's booth at EXPO Chicago, Bad at Sports tailgates with artist Edra Soto and designer Dan Sullivan—Chicago's unofficial art-world power couple. Soto unpacks her first solo art fair booth at Engage Projects, where monoblock plastic chairs, airbrushed T-shirts, and Puerto Rican vernacular architecture collide with memory, loss, and celebration. Sullivan, founder of Navillus Woodworks, riffs on craft, Ikea hacks, and the business of making high-end furniture while moonlighting as Soto's collaborator and fabricator. "Dan helps."

What starts as a playful conversation about paparazzi, beer coolers, and chairs spirals into a meditation on grief, Puerto Rican cultural identity, and the design politics of everyday objects. Along the way, we hit Bad Bunny, the Bear restaurant, euphemisms around death, Catholic ritual, and the French (yes, the French). We close out with music talk—Sullivan on his bands Nadnavillus and Arriver—and a standing invitation for Bad at Sports to share the stage.

Death, dying, lawn chairs, and punk rock. Welcome to EXPO.

Artists & Designers

Edra Soto
- Instagram: @edrasoto
- https://edrasoto.com/home.html
Dan Sullivan / Navillus Woodworks
- Instagram: @navillus_woodworks
- https://navilluswoodworks.com/
Ryan Peter Miller
- Instagram: @ryanpetermiller
- http://ryanpetermiller.com/
Miguel Aguilar (Kane One)
- Instagram: @kane_one_
- kane-1.com
- https://www.3arts.org/artist/miguel-aguilar/
Susan Gomes
George Ortiz
- Instagram: @georgeortizphotography
- https://www.georgeortizphotography.com/
Bad Bunny
- Instagram: @badbunnypr
- https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/459095/bad-bunny-puerto-rico-residency-history

Institutions / Venues / Events

Engage Projects

Instagram: @engageprojects
https://www.engage-projects.com/

Chicago Architecture Biennial

Instagram: @chicagoarchitecturebiennial
https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/

EXPO Chicago

Instagram: @expochicago
expochicago.com

WBEZ

Instagram: @wbezchicago
wbez.org/about

105.5 FM Lumpen Radio (WLPN‑LP)

Instagram: @lumpenradio
lumpenradio.com

The Franklin (project space)

Instagram: @thefranklinoutdoor (site-run by Edra Soto & Dan Sullivan)
https://thefranklinoutdoor.tumblr.com/ABOUT

The Bear restaurant (Sullivan furniture)

This refers to the TV show The Bear on FX,

Art Basel

Instagram: @artbasel
artbasel.com

The Armory Show

Instagram: @thearmoryshow
thearmoryshow.com

NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance)

Instagram: @newartdealers
newartdealers.org

Color Factory

Instagram: @colorfactoryco
colorfactory.co

Electrical Audio (recording studio)

Instagram: @electricalaudio

Tenement Museum (NYC)

Instagram: @thetenementmuseum
https://www.tenement.org/

Cultural Figures & References

Yolanda, Lucetta, Anita (Puerto Rican celebs)
Gilberto Santa Rosa
Lil' Kim, Lil' Romeo, Neil Young, Slayer, Jeff Koons

Bands & Music

Navilus (Dan Sullivan's project)

https://navilluswoodworks.com/

Arriver (art-metal band)

image courtesy of Engage Projects

Bad at Sports Episode 910: CAB 6 – Dirk Denison, David Salkin, and Jennifer Armetta Aug 01, 2025

Show notes

In this lively and insightful episode, Bad at Sports hosts a roundtable conversation with Dirk Denison (Founding Board Member of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB)), David Salkin (Designer, Curator, and Board Husband), and Jennifer Armetta (Executive Director of the CAB). Together, they reflect on the impact and legacy of the Chicago Architecture Biennial and its shifting forms of experimentation, urbanism, and civic engagement. The episode explores the curatorial frameworks of CAB, the roles of education and public space, and how architecture becomes a lens through which cities reimagine themselves.

Names Dropped:

- Dirk Denison - https://www.dirkdenisonarchitects.com/ - David Salkin - https://www.davidsalkin.com/ - Jennifer Armetta - https://www.engage-projects.com/ - Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) - https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/ - Venice Architecture Biennial - https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2025 - CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal - https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/exhibitions/dress-rehearsal-chicago-architecture-biennial-2023 - CAB 6: Shift - https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/ - Chicago Architecture Center - https://www.architecture.org/ - Graham Foundation - http://www.grahamfoundation.org/ - Studio Gang - https://studiogang.com/ - MASS Design Group - https://massdesigngroup.org/ - Jeanne Gang - https://studiogang.com/people/jeanne-gang/ - Open House Chicago - https://www.architecture.org/open-house-chicago/about – Burnham - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burnham – Frank Llyod Wright - https://flwright.org/ – the ID at IIT - https://id.iit.edu/ – Mies - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe – Louis Sullivian - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan - Professor Landis - https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1239455 - Rahm Emmanuel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel

Bad at Sports Episode 909: Paul Pfeiffer Jul 16, 2025

Show notes

We meet Paul Pfeiffer inside his retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to talk about ghosts, spectacle, and the metaphysics of sports. Known for erasing athletes from footage and turning stadiums into stages of worship, Pfeiffer opens up about boxing as performance, the haunted loop of fandom, and building media rituals in the Philippines.

Also: parrots, Deion Sanders, lip sync monks, and the death of the moment.

Names dropped:

Deion Sanders - https://www.instagram.com/deionsanders/?hl=en Manny Pacquiao - mannypacquiao.ph The Bible (yes, the text) - https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/hail-satan?srsltid=AfmBOoqTwkeDSDwxOmlvVLQX8QQduw8ehfzt3sYzUMFMvJO-_ym35hOg Tom Gunning - https://cms.uchicago.edu/people/tom-gunning Joshua Oppenheimer - https://cream.ac.uk/people/josh-oppenheimer/ DJ Spooky (Paul Miller) - djspooky.com Gina Osterloh - ginaosterloh.com Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago - mcachicago.org Biennale of Sydney - biennaleofsydney.art Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver - cagvancouver.org

Bad at Sports Episode 908: Rachel Adams and the Bemis Art Center Jul 09, 2025

Show notes

We sit down with curator Rachel Adams to talk about institutional evolution, artists as infrastructure, and how curatorial practice shifts between museums and biennials. Rachel reflects on working with artists like Cauleen Smith, Liz Magic Laser, and Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, the power of slow curation, and why she's drawn to hybrid spaces that defy the market.

Along the way: phantom titles, artist contracts, Minneapolis moments, and a manifesto in a box of ice cream bars.

Cauleen Smith

cauleensmith.com

Liz Magic Laser

lizmagiclaser.com

Beatriz Santiago Muñoz

lima.art

Candice Hopkins

indigenousnewyork.org

Nato Thompson

https://www.natothompson.com/about

Christina Vassallo

Sarah Schultz

Alison Hearst

Andrea Andersson

Franklin Sirmans

Mary Jane Jacob

https://never-the-same.org/interviews/mary-jane-jacob/

Independent Curators International (ICI)

curatorsintl.org

image: Asad Raza, Orientation, 2022. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Field Studio.

Bad at Sports Episode 907: A Hubris of Irish Curators Jul 02, 2025

Show notes

We sit down with a delegation of Irish curators—Michele Horrigan (Askeaton Contemporary Arts), Michael Hill (Temple Bar Gallery + Studios), and Mark O'Gorman (The Complex)—to unpack what it means to build artist-centered institutions on an island without a commercial art market. From weather-worn banana warehouses to smoke-machine-filled nightclubs, these curators share space-making tactics, post-colonial entanglements, and the challenges of caring for artists without selling to collectors.

They're in Chicago for EXPO and bringing the heat—with nothing but friendship, found neon, and deeply site-responsive shows. Also: fluorescent hands, oak horns, grant hustle, and Duchampian office doors

Names Dropped:

Liliane Puthod – https://www.lilianeputhod.net/ Áine Mac Giolla Bhríde (A.Mac) – https://www.motherstankstation.com/artist/aine-mac-giolla-bhride/ Devin Mays – https://regardsgallery.com/artists/devin-mays/ Haynes Riley / Good Weather – https://www.goodweather.llc Becky Nahom (ICA) – https://curatorsintl.org/about/collaborators/23122-becky-nahom Stephanie Smith – https://curatorsintl.org/about/collaborators/4391-stephanie-smith Kate Sierzputowski – https://katesierzputowski.com Amanda Rice – https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx2lfLmL_Qk Frank Wasser – https://www.instagram.com/frankwasserartist Bryony Dunne – https://www.instagram.com/bryonymaydunne Olga Balema – https://www.clearing-gallery.com/artists/olga-balema Hannah Hoffman Gallery – https://www.instagram.com/hannahhoffmangallery Bridget Donahue Gallery – https://www.bridgetdonahue.nyc John Latham / Flat Time House – http://www.flattimeho.org.uk Brian O'Doherty – https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/arts/brian-odoherty-dead.html Tom Friedman – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Friedman Duchamp (Marcel) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp The Smiths (band) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smiths