Bad at Sports Episode 979: Valerie Carberry

This week on Bad at Sports, Duncan MacKenzie and Brian Andrews visit the library at GRAY in Chicago to talk with Valerie Carberry, the gallery's president and CEO, about what it takes to build a gallery across generations of artists, collectors, and communities.

Carberry traces her path from working with historic American art in Chicago's River North gallery district to opening her own gallery in 2002, joining forces with Richard Gray Gallery in 2015, and helping develop GRAY's ambitious exhibition spaces. Along the way, the conversation turns to Theaster Gates's 2014 Retreat exhibition, the shifting meaning of "slacker" across generations, and how an established gallery can invite new audiences without abandoning its history.

The three also discuss Roger Brown's California-period paintings and GRAY's exhibition Weathervane; Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain and his new exhibition Beyond Silence; and the value of connecting artists such as Alex Katz and David Hockney to the contemporary present. Carberry reflects on GRAY's Chicago and New York programs, including Real Monsters in Bold Colors: Bob Thompson and Candida Alvarez, and makes a case for patient, artist-centered growth rather than chasing trends.

It's a conversation about the commercial gallery as a cultural institution: a place where art history, stewardship, experimentation, and community can meet.

Image: Weston Wells!

Names Dropped:

Valerie Carberry — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/news/valerie-carberry-appointed-president-and-chief-executive-officer-of-gray-chicago-and-new-york

Duncan MacKenzie — https://badatsports.com/

Brian Andrews — https://badatsports.com/

Richard Gray — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/about

Paul Gray — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/about

Robert Henry Adams — https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/surveys/chicago/ryerson-and-burnham-libraries-art-institute-chicago/robert-henry-adams

Theaster Gates — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/artists/theaster-gates

Hamza Walker — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/retreat

Romi Crawford — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/artists/theaster-gates

Dieter Roelstraete — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/its-about-time

Abigail Winograd — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/its-about-time

Pope.L — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/its-about-time

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/its-about-time

Jim Dine — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/video

Roger Brown — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/roger-brown2

Jaume Plensa — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/jaume-plensa14

Alex Katz — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions

David Hockney — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions

Torkwase Dyson — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/past/all/all

Candida Alvarez — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/7

Bob Thompson — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/7

Judy Ledgerwood — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/judy-ledgerwood

José de Rivera — https://www.valeriecarberry.com/

Ellen Lanyon — https://www.pafa.org/

Evelyn Statsinger — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/video

Thomas Hart Benton — https://americanart.si.edu/

Andy Warhol — https://www.warhol.org/

Jackson Pollock — https://www.moma.org/artists/4675

Mark Tansey — https://www.gagosian.com/artists/mark-tansey/

Galen Gerber — https://www.artic.edu/

David Salle — https://www.davidsalle.com/

Alexander Calder — https://www.calder.org/

GRAY — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/about

Valerie Carberry Gallery — https://www.valeriecarberry.com/gallery-information.php

Robert Henry Adams Fine Art — https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/surveys/chicago/ryerson-and-burnham-libraries-art-institute-chicago/robert-henry-adams

School of the Art Institute of Chicago — https://www.saic.edu/

Roger Brown Study Collection — https://www.saic.edu/

South Side Community Art Center — https://www.sscartcenter.org/

Smart Museum of Art — https://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/

Logan Center for the Arts — https://arts.uchicago.edu/logan-center

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts — https://www.pafa.org/

Black Artists Retreat — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/retreat

Queens Museum — https://queensmuseum.org/

Lumpen Radio — https://www.lumpenradio.com/

Bad at Sports — https://badatsports.com/

Millennium Park — https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/millennium_park.html

Whitney Museum of American Art — https://whitney.org/

Venice Biennale — https://www.labiennale.org/en/art

White Cube — https://www.whitecube.com/

Gladstone Gallery — https://www.gladstonegallery.com/

Skarstedt — https://www.skarstedt.com/

Retreat (2014) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/retreat

IT'S ABOUT TIME: Counterproductive Conceptualisms in Chicago (2026) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/its-about-time

DRAW (curatorial collaboration) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/its-about-time

Roger Brown: Weathervane (2026) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/roger-brown2

Jaume Plensa: Beyond Silence (2026) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/jaume-plensa14

Clouds (Jaume Plensa sculpture series) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/jaume-plensa14

Crown Fountain — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/jaume-plensa14

Real Monsters in Bold Colors: Bob Thompson and Candida Alvarez (2025) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/7

Judy Ledgerwood: Twilight in the Wilderness (2025) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/judy-ledgerwood

Torkwase Dyson: Of Line and Memory (2024–25) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions/past/all/all

Jim Dine (2017 GRAY Warehouse opening) — https://www.richardgraygallery.com/exhibitions

Slacker (film) — https://www.criterion.com/films/408-slacker