Kenny Schachter on the Art World's Mess: Stop Complaining, Go Make Something

Asked to grade this year in art, Kenny Schachter doesn't give a straight answer. "As long as I'm alive, of sound mind, and can still walk and move, it's a good year for art," he says, before adding, "The rest of my life is a different story—don't ask." The dodge is self-deprecating, but it also perfectly captures the attitude he circles back to throughout the interview: rather than dwelling on how bad the art world supposedly is, spend your time actually making things.

Schachter—artist, critic, curator, lecturer, and collector—has spanned the industry for over three decades, best known for turning his insider access into sharp, often self-mocking commentary that zeroes in on the human folly and absurdity of the art market. This interview is part of "State of Art," a new series from Hypebeast's art platform HypeArt that invites creators, curators, and collectors within the art world to weigh in on current issues and personal observations.

The one moment Schachter truly lets his guard down throughout the interview is when the conversation turns to Paul Thek. His fascination with the late American artist has spanned over three decades—he's collected Thek's work, contributed to the book Paul Thek: Artist's Artist, and curated several exhibitions of Thek's art, including a 2025 show with Jonathan Anderson at Thomas Dane Gallery in London. Asked about the exhibition he can't stop thinking about from the first half of this year, he doesn't hesitate: Thek's solo show at Galerie Buchholz in New York.

He singles out a small oil painting titled Bread and Buttocks (1979–80), depicting a male torso alongside a slice of bread. Small in scale, it's paired with a tiny spotlight mounted on an antique gold frame, with a child's desk and chair deliberately placed in front so viewers can get up close. Schachter first saw the piece at Thek's 1995 retrospective in Rotterdam, "The Wonderful World That Almost Was," and encountered it again at the Whitney in 2010. He believes Thek intentionally painted this series "badly," as a near-satirical response to the era's obsession with the big, "bad" paintings of Julian Schnabel and Francesco Clemente that dominated the New York art scene at the time. "This painting proves that size was never the point—what you do with it is."

Asked which exhibition he's most looking forward to before year's end, Schachter doesn't hold back in plugging his own solo show, "This Is It," opening in November at Alex Berns Gallery in Tribeca, New York, featuring new sculptural work alongside a body of photographs and archival material from the early 1990s. Asked to sum up the art world right now in three words, his answer: "Tough. Stay committed." He adds, half-joking, "Or maybe locked up and committed—might be easier."

As for which artist he'd want to share a meal with, his answer is still Paul Thek. "I'd ask him straight up: how did you manage to work so prolifically and with such depth for so long? Mostly because I'm just insanely jealous."