Episode 974: Mari Eastman
What makes a painting worth saving? What happens when the image in your head refuses to become the image on your panel? And why does everybody want another fox?
Episode 973: Manuel Mathieu
What do you do when your hope for the future starts to feel fragile? And what can a painting, an act of remembrance, or a bottle of perfume do about it?
Duncan MacKenzie sits down with Haitian-born artist Manuel Mathieu at Calgary’s Esker Foundation for a conversation that moves between studio practice and the world beyond it. They begin with Mathieu’s presentation at the 2026 Venice Biennale, including GENOCIDE and his mosaic Abundance and Drought, then explore archives, erasure, political power, the responsibilities of artists, and whether art can make room for disagreement without closing down empathy.
Episode 972: Jeanette Andrews
Artist and magician Jeanette Andrews joins Duncan and Jesse at the Elmhurst Art Museum, the very place where, as a teenager, she began imagining how magic could become contemporary art. Nearly twenty years later, that ambition has become an exhibition.
Episode 971: Jean Alexander Frater, Matthew Girson & Dana DeGiulio at Material
What can eight small paintings tell us about the possibilities of an artist-run space? Duncan MacKenzie, joined midway by Jesse Malmed, speaks with Jean Alexander Frater, Matthew Girson, and Dana DeGiulio about a two-person exhibition at Material, Jean’s artist-run project space in Chicago’s Roscoe Village. Four paintings by Matthew and four by Dana are installed in an alternating sequence, setting up a conversation across the walls rather than dividing the gallery by artist.
Episode: 970 – A P(o)or(t)ch Theater with Mark Jeffery, Judd Morrissey and Kristin Mariani
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At Spudnik Press in Chicago, Duncan MacKenzie, Brian Andrews and Ryan Peter Miller welcome Mark Jeffery, Judd Morrissey and Kristin Mariani to discuss the Poor Farm Experiment’s Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater (MIDWEST REDUX).
