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This week Duncan MacKenzie and Ryan Peter Miller sit down with artist and educator Rafael Salas for a wide-ranging conversation about rural Wisconsin, magical realism, county fairs, country music, identity, and the contested landscapes of contemporary America.
Salas discusses growing up in rural Wisconsin, returning to the Midwest after years in New York, and how his paintings inhabit a space between celebration and unease. The conversation moves from the influence of Wisconsin Death Trip to the political symbolism of county fairs, mixed-race identity, landscape painting traditions, and the challenge of making meaningful contemporary art from outside major art centers.
Name Drops and links:
- Rafael Salas – https://www.rafaelsalas.com/
- Door County Contemporary – https://www.doorcountycontemporary.com/
- Ripon College – https://www.ripon.edu/
- Museum of Wisconsin Art – https://wisconsinart.org/
- Newcity – https://www.newcity.com/
- Michael Lesy (Wisconsin Death Trip) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lesy
- Wisconsin Death Trip – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Death_Trip
- Charles Van Schaick – https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/record/image/W0128W2/li>
- Mark Tansey – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Tansey
- Grant Wood – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Wood
- Cormac McCarthy – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormac_McCarthy
- Caspar David Friedrich – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_David_Friedrich
- Johnny Cash – https://www.johnnycash.com/
- Dolly Parton – https://dollyparton.com/
- Willie Nelson – https://willienelson.com/
- Hank Williams – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Williams
- Woody Guthrie – https://www.woodyguthrie.org/
- Neil Young – https://neilyoungarchives.com/
- Marquette University – https://www.marquette.edu/
- John McCain – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain
- Sarah Palin – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin
- Barack Obama – https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/
Operations Manager at Bad at Sports
Christopher Hudgens is the Operations Manager for BaS and works in various other capacities for other organizations in the Chicago Art & Culture scene. Most recently as Business Operations Manager for the Bridge Art Fair and currently an advocate for all things art & technology.
Latest posts by Christopher Hudgens (see all)
- Episode 958: Rafael Salas - July 13, 2026
- Episode 957: Andrew Rafacz - July 3, 2026
- Episode 956: Phoenix Brown - July 3, 2026
