{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Bad at Sports Episode 930: Antonio Darden","description":"Recorded in Atlanta during the Art Papers symposium: Fire Ecology Artist Antonio Darden joins Duncan MacKenzie and Brian Andrews in Atlanta, where the conversation opens with one of the most arresting images in Darden\u2019s recent work: an alien laid out on an autopsy table. What begins as a discussion of a strange installation quickly unfolds into a deeply personal exploration of grief, memory, and the ways artists translate trauma into form. Darden describes the work Last One Left, a project that emerged from a cascade of personal losses: the deaths of his mother, brother, and father, leaving him the final surviving member of his immediate family. The alien body becomes a surrogate figure, a way to approach unbearable realities obliquely. Humor, conspiracy culture, and pop imagery become tools for making painful subjects accessible without dulling their impact. As Darden explains, confronting audiences with a literal body can shut down reflection, but a grey alien opens a space where grief can be processed at a distance before it lands. The conversation moves through the complicated emotional landscape that shaped these works: family histories stretching from Trinidad to New York, the lingering trauma of police violence after his brother\u2019s death in Atlanta, and the strange burden of becoming the keeper of a family archive of memories, objects, and stories. Darden reflects on what it means to inherit not only possessions but also responsibility for the narrative of a family\u2019s past. From there, the discussion shifts to Darden\u2019s increasingly theatrical performance practice. He recounts a recent performance staged in an entirely blacked-out theater that blended wrestling mythology, Atlanta rap history, gospel music, cinematic references, and sculptural staging into a chaotic and emotional ritual. Undertaker imagery, Pastor Troy, Lil\u2019 Kim, and The Naked Gun collide in a deliberately excessive spectacle meant to mirror the overwhelming density of memory and grief. Throughout the conversation, Darden describes his work as a kind of mental montage. Cars, hip-hop, conspiracy theories, television shows, and family trauma coexist in the same symbolic landscape. Rather than separating high and low culture, he embraces the full range of references that shape lived experience. The episode also turns toward the future, as Darden reflects on fatherhood and the challenge of raising a young son while carrying the weight of family history. In contrast to the losses that haunt his work, his son\u2019s creativity and confidence offer a different kind of legacy. What emerges is a portrait of an artist using humor, spectacle, and cultural collage to navigate the most difficult questions of survival, responsibility, and memory. Name Drop List: Antonio Darden \u2013 https:\/\/www.antoniogdarden.com Craig Drennen \u2013 https:\/\/craigdrennen.com Jared Christian \u2013 https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jaredchristian Devont\u00e9 Hynes \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dev_Hynes Blood Orange \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Blood_Orange_(musician) Young Thug \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Young_Thug Shawty Lo \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Shawty_Lo Pastor Troy \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pastor_Troy Lil\u2019 Kim \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lil%27_Kim John P. Kee \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_P._Kee Gillian Anderson \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gillian_Anderson Dana Scully \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dana_Scully The X-Files \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_X-Files Tupac Shakur \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tupac_Shakur Michael Jackson \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michael_Jackson Law & Order: Special Victims Unit \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Law_%26_Order:_Special_Victims_Unit Olivia Benson \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Olivia_Benson Gordon Ramsay \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gordon_Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kitchen_Nightmares Kanye West \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kanye_West Bound 2 \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bound_2 The Ponderosa Twins Plus One \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Ponderosa_Twins_Plus_One The Undertaker \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Undertaker Priscilla Presley \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Priscilla_Presley Leslie Nielsen \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leslie_Nielsen The Naked Gun \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Naked_Gun Cyclops \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cyclops_(Marvel_Comics) X-Men \u201997 \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/X-Men_%2797 Radcliffe Bailey \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Radcliffe_Bailey Art Papers \u2013 https:\/\/www.artpapers.org\/ Fire Ecology \u2013 https:\/\/www.artpapers.org\/fire-ecology\/   ","author_name":"Bad at Sports","author_url":"http:\/\/badatsports.com","html":"