Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Embracing the Cliché: An Interview with Michelle Grabner

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Embracing the Cliché: An Interview with Michelle Grabner

Caroline Picard interviews Michelle Grabner, artist, writer, and co-curator of the 2014 Whitney Biennial.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle | Mashed Up and Shredded into Space: An Interview with Candida Alvarez

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle | Mashed Up and Shredded into Space: An Interview with Candida Alvarez

Caroline Picard poses four questions to artist Candida Alvarez whose paintings are currently on view at Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Afterimage: An Interview with Dahlia Tulett-Gross and Thea Liberty Nichols

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Afterimage: An Interview with Dahlia Tulett-Gross and Thea Liberty Nichols

Caroline Picard talks with Dahlia Tulett-Gross and Thea Liberty Nichols about some of the visual legacies between two Chicago generations in the exhibition “Afterimage,” held last summer at the DePaul Art Museum.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | The Past Lives of Books

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | The Past Lives of Books

Caroline Picard on the many forms that textual marginalia may take.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Two Histories of the World: Part Two

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Two Histories of the World: Part Two

Caroline Picard looks at “Two Histories of the World,” a two-part exhibition taking place at two different venues and at two different points in time.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Goal-less Living Things: The Plants of Heidi Norton

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Goal-less Living Things: The Plants of Heidi Norton

Caroline Picard talks to artist Heidi Norton about her current solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which incorporates living houseplant material.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Embodying the Disembodied: Leif Elggren at LAMPO

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Embodying the Disembodied: Leif Elggren at LAMPO

Caroline Picard shares her observations on Leif Elggren’s performance at the Graham Foundation (presented by LAMPO) last fall.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | An Interview with Terri Kapsalis

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | An Interview with Terri Kapsalis

Caroline Picard talks to Terri Kapsalis, an artist, performer and writer whose work investigates bodies, and the means by which conclusions about the body are drawn.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #16: Review-o-Rama

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #16: Review-o-Rama

The Bad at Sports team is back with another podcast filled with irreverent reviews and discussions about the latest art events taking place in Chicago.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Transformation of Permission: An Interview with Millie Kapp

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Transformation of Permission: An Interview with Millie Kapp

Caroline Picard talks to Millie Kapp, an artist currently working with the collaborative performance group Husband, about the process of building a performance.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Transforming Space into Place: An Interview with Leyya Tawil, co-creator of The Grand Re-Map

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Transforming Space into Place: An Interview with Leyya Tawil, co-creator of The Grand Re-Map

The collaborative project The Grand Re-Map seeks to observe and record the physical interactions between bodies and landscapes.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #15: “Spectral Landscape (with Viewing Stations)”

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #15: “Spectral Landscape (with Viewing Stations)”

This month’s podcast features a discussion with artists Pamela Fraser and John Neff about color in art: how do artists use color? How do viewers experience it?

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Black Visual Archive

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Black Visual Archive

Terri Griffith talks with artist and Art21 Blog columnist Meg Onli about Black Visual Archive, a website of critical writings on the work of African American artists.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #14: The New Art Examiner, Re-Examined

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #14: The New Art Examiner, Re-Examined

A discussion with editor Terri Griffith about “The Essential New Art Examiner,” an anthology of writings from Chicago’s only major art periodical, which folded in 2002.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Talking to the Moon

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Talking to the Moon

Silence speaks volumes in the work of artist Katie Paterson as well as in Theater Oobleck’s stage performance of “The Hunchback Variations.”

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #13: “Feast” (or Famine?)

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #13: “Feast” (or Famine?)

This month’s podcast from Bad at Sports features a review of the exhibition “Feast” at the Smart Museum of Art.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

The Energetic Persistence of Water: An Interview with Mary Jane Jacob

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

The Energetic Persistence of Water: An Interview with Mary Jane Jacob

How might Buddhist frameworks help artists better understand the creative process, and art’s function in society?

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #12

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #12

This month’s podcast looks at the demise of the Next/Art Chicago fair and reviews new exhibitions by photographer Laura Letinsky and painter Molly Zuckerman-Hartung.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #11

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast #11

This month’s podcast features a review of Cathy Wilkes’s Chicago exhibition and discussion of a greatly-exaggerated report of Damien Hirst’s demise.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Ideas as Medium: An Interview with Laurie Palmer

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Ideas as Medium: An Interview with Laurie Palmer

Caroline Picard talks to Chicago artist Laurie Palmer about collaborative practices, political action, and how we might save the world.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Against Nature: An Interview with Hernan Bas

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Against Nature: An Interview with Hernan Bas

The painter known for his lush, fanciful landscapes discusses the roles that literature, Romanticism and the theatrical play in his work.

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast Episode #10

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Fielding Practice Podcast Episode #10

On this episode of Bad at Sports’ Fielding Practice for Centerfield, we have a special podcast on the subject of Ox-Bow, a residency program and artists retreat that is famed …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle With Bad at Sports | An Interview with Thomas Comerford

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle With Bad at Sports | An Interview with Thomas Comerford

Thomas Comerford is an experimental filmmaker from Chicago with a background in performance and sculpture. His current work considers ideas of place, and the relationship of history to our physical …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports | Fielding Practice Podcast Episode #9

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports | Fielding Practice Podcast Episode #9

On this month’s edition of our Fielding Practice podcast, Duncan MacKenzie, Dan Gunn and Art21 Blog Editor Claudine Isé discuss the upcoming New Art Dealer’s Alliance (NADA) Art Fair in …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Two Anecdotes Concerning the Architecture of Bertrand Goldberg

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield | Two Anecdotes Concerning the Architecture of Bertrand Goldberg

I don’t live in Chicago anymore, but I frequently visit. Over the past summer I was invited to a housewarming party for friends who had rented a large loft space …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle With Bad at Sports | Fielding Practice Podcast Episode #8

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle With Bad at Sports | Fielding Practice Podcast Episode #8

We are back with our next podcast featuring the latest in art news and reviews from Chicago and the Midwest! This month, Duncan Mackenzie, Dan Gunn, and Art21 Blog Editor …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports | Hand in Glove

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports | Hand in Glove

                      Between these two covers is artist Vince Leo’s Nobody Remembers Timetable Project, commissioned in 1990 by the now-defunct National …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports | Fielding Practice Podcast Episode #7

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Centerfield: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports | Fielding Practice Podcast Episode #7

After a brief hiatus last month, we’re back with Episode 7 of “Fielding Practice” for Centerfield: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports. This month, our roundtable gabfest includes …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park

Living in a fabulous art city like Chicago, it’s easy to become urban-centric when it comes to contemporary art. But there’s a place just on the border of Chicago that …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Embodying Echoes: An Interview with Matthew Goulish

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Embodying Echoes: An Interview with Matthew Goulish

“WE MAY AGREE on the premise that each work of art is at least in part perfect, while each critic is at least in part imperfect. We may then look …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Fielding Practice Podcast #6: MCA Shifts Gears; Ikea Hacking as Art; and Ai Wei Wei

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Fielding Practice Podcast #6: MCA Shifts Gears; Ikea Hacking as Art; and Ai Wei Wei

This month’s episode of Fielding Practice, a special podcast produced by Bad at Sports exclusively for the Art21 blog, is action-packed and filled with discussion of the latest art happenings …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field: Talking with File Type curators Chaz Evans and Lorelei Stewart

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field: Talking with File Type curators Chaz Evans and Lorelei Stewart

When I initially saw the promotional poster for File Type, currently on view at University of Illinois at Chicago’s Gallery 400, I was immediately intrigued by the curatorial premise posed …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Fielding Practice Episode 5: Open Engagement, William J. O’Brien at The Ren

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Fielding Practice Episode 5: Open Engagement, William J. O’Brien at The Ren

On this month’s episode of Fielding Practice, Bad at Sports’ co-founder Richard Holland joins Duncan MacKenzie, Dan Gunn and Ime for our regular roundtable discussion about art, culture, and related …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Threading Infrastructure: An Interview with Anne Wilson

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Threading Infrastructure: An Interview with Anne Wilson

When I asked Anne Wilson if I could interview her for Art21, she sent me a preview copy of her book, Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave—a catalogue published collaboratively by White Walls and …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Fielding Practice Episode 4: Chicago Art Fairs and Early Modernism Redux

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Fielding Practice Episode 4: Chicago Art Fairs and Early Modernism Redux

It’s time once again for Fielding Practice with Bad at Sports, a special podcast produced for the Art21 blog. On this month’s episode, Duncan MacKenzie, Dan Gunn, and I are …

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Visons for Chicago: Public Art with Organizer Daniel Tucker

Center Field: Art in the Middle with Bad at Sports.

Center Field | Visons for Chicago: Public Art with Organizer Daniel Tucker

I’ve known Daniel Tucker for about five years now and I’ve always thought of him as a true Chicago artist, somewhere in between artist, organizer, writer, and administrator and always …