Dave Hickey

{{Infobox person

| image = Dave Hickey in 1969.png

| alt =

| caption = Hickey in 1969

| birth_name = David Hickey

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|12|5|}}

| birth_place = Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.{{cite web|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cbi&AN=203086532&site=ehost-live|title=Hickey, Dave|publisher=Current Biography Illustrated|access-date=October 11, 2010}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|11|12|1938|12|5}}

| death_place = Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.

| education = {{Plainlist|

}}

| occupation = Art critic

| years_active =

| notable_works = {{Plainlist|

Air Guitar (1997)
The Invisible Dragon (1993)
Pirates and Farmers (2013)
Wasted Words (2016)
Dust Bunnies (2016)

}}

| spouse = Libby Lumpkin

| awards = {{Plainlist|

Frank Jewett Mather
MacArthur Fellowship
Nevada Writers Hall of Fame

}}

David Hickey (December 5, 1938 – November 12, 2021{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Knight |date=November 21, 2021 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-11-21/art-critic-dave-hickey-dies-appreciation |title=Appreciation: Art critic Dave Hickey was known for his blazing and cantankerous wit |work=Los Angeles Times}}) was an American art critic who wrote for many American publications including Rolling Stone, ARTnews, Art in America, Artforum, Harper's Magazine, and Vanity Fair. He was nicknamed "The Bad Boy of Art Criticism"{{cite web | url=http://www.newsweek.com/dave-hickey-bad-boy-art-criticism-76539 |last=Yabroff |first=Jennie | title=Dave Hickey: The Bad Boy of Art Criticism |work=Newsweek |date=March 13, 2009 |access-date=April 28, 2016}} and "The Enfant Terrible of Art Criticism".{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/oct/28/art-critic-dave-hickey-quits-art-world |last=Helmore |first=Edward | title=Doyen of American critics turns his back on the 'nasty, stupid' world of modern art | work=The Observer | date=October 27, 2012 | access-date=April 28, 2016}} He had been professor of English at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and distinguished professor of criticism for the MFA program in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of New Mexico.

Biography

Hickey graduated from Texas Christian University in 1961 and received his MA from the University of Texas two years later. In 1989, SMU Press published Prior Convictions, a volume of his short fiction. He was owner-director of A Clean Well-Lighted Place, an art gallery in Austin, Texas, and director of the Reese Palley Gallery in New York. He served as executive editor for Art in America magazine, as contributing editor to The Village Voice, as staff songwriter for Glaser Publications in Nashville, and as the arts editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

He wrote for most major cultural publications in the United States and abroad, including Rolling Stone, ARTnews, Art in America, Artforum, Interview, Harper's Magazine, Vanity Fair, Nest, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. Hickey regularly published "Revisions", a monthly column for Art in America. He also wrote for European publications like The London Review of Books, frieze (London), Situation (Paris), and Parkett (Zurich).

He was known for his arguments against academicism and in favor of the effects of rough-and-tumble free markets on art. His critical essays have been published in two volumes: The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty (1993) and Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy (1997). In 2009, Hickey published a revised and updated version of The Invisible Dragon, adding an introduction that addressed changes in the art world since the book's original publication, as well as a new concluding essay.

"I write love songs for people who live in a democracy", he remarked.Hickey, Dave (1997). [http://www.artbook.com/0963726455.html Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy]. The Foundation for Advanced Critical Studies, Inc., Los Angeles. {{ISBN|9780963726452}}

Profiles of Hickey have appeared in Time magazine, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, The Economist, and Flaunt, among other publications. Interviews with Hickey have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Bomb, the New Art Examiner, Public Events, A Gathering of the Tribes, The Art Newspaper, and other magazines. He has been interviewed several times on topics such as art and Las Vegas by the BBC, PBS, and NPR.

In 2014, Hickey began making posts on Facebook during an illness. Eighteen months later, art historian Julia Friedman suggested a project documenting his experience. Two books resulted from the collaboration: Wasted Words and Dust Bunnies, published in 2016.{{cite web | url=http://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/fine-art/2016/feb/10/art-critic-dave-hickey-facebook-women-artists/ |last=Peterson |first=Kristen | title=Art Critic Dave Hickey Talks About Facebook — And His Two New Books About Facebook | work=Las Vegas Weekly | date=February 10, 2016 | access-date=February 28, 2016}}{{cite web | url=http://javamagaz.com/?p=1708 |last=Duncan |first=Jenna | title=Julia Friedman: Editor of Dave Hickey's Online Writings | work=Java Magazine | date=February 25, 2016 | access-date=February 28, 2016}} Both books appeared in a lengthy review published by The Times Literary Supplement.{{cite web | url=http://www.the-tls.co.uk/editions/may-27-2016/ |last=Hawkes |first=David | title=Everyone's a critic: Wasted Words and Dust Bunnies by Dave Hickey, compiled and edited by Julia Friedman | work=The Times Literary Supplement | date=May 27, 2016 | access-date=May 27, 2016}}

In 2015, he wrote the essay "War Is Beautiful, They Say" for the book War is Beautiful: The New York Times Pictorial Guide to the Glamour of Armed Conflict by David Shields. This essay described the painterly influences and inspirations behind several war photographs published by The New York Times.{{Cite web|last=Barron|first=Jesse|title=Pretty Vacant|url=https://www.bookforum.com/print/2205/a-new-collection-examines-a-decade-of-new-york-times-war-photography-15600|access-date=2022-02-10|website=Bookforum|language=en-US}}

Hickey was married to art historian Libby Lumpkin. He died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on November 12, 2021, at the age of 82.{{cite news |last=Greenberger |first=Alex |date=November 20, 2021 |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/dave-hickey-critic-dead-1234610970/ |title=Dave Hickey, Art Critic Whose Influence Loomed Large, Dies at 82 |work=ARTnews}}

Awards and accolades

In 1994, Hickey received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for art criticism from the College Art Association.{{cite web |url=http://www.collegeart.org/awards/matherpast|title=Awards|publisher=College Art Association |access-date=October 11, 2010}} In 2001, he became a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called "genius grant".{{cite web|last=Hickey|first=Dave|title=MacArthur Fellows Program: Dave Hickey|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/662/|access-date=January 10, 2016 |publisher= John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation}} In 2003, Hickey was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Friends of the University of Nevada, Reno, Libraries.{{cite web|title=Nevada Writers Hall of Fame: Dave Hickey|url=http://guides.library.unr.edu/nvwriters-hall-of-fame/hickey-2003|website=University of Nevada, Reno|access-date=November 30, 2017}} He won a Peabody Award for his 2006 documentary about Andy Warhol for the American Masters series, which aired on PBS in 2006.{{cite web|url=http://art.unm.edu/project/dave-hickey-libby-lumpkin-ph-d-join-the-department-of-art-art-history/|title=Dave Hickey made Distinguished Professor of Criticism|year=2010|publisher=UNM College of Fine Arts|access-date=May 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604031328/http://art.unm.edu/project/dave-hickey-libby-lumpkin-ph-d-join-the-department-of-art-art-history/|archive-date=June 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}

Books

In 1997 Art Issues Press published Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy, a memoir containing 23 essays or "love songs" addressing his experiences as a music critic and an art dealer. The Invisible Dragon was originally published in 1993 with a new revised and expanded edition published in 2012. It is a series of provocative essays that encourage readers to reconsider the role of beauty in art. Pirates and Farmers was published by Ridinghouse in 2013, and featured essays by Hickey from 1999 to 2013. This body of short essays looks at contemporary phenomena including super-collectors, the trope of the biennale and the loss of looking.{{cite web|last=Hickey|first=Dave|title=Pirates and Farmers|url=http://www.ridinghouse.co.uk/publications/85/|publisher=Ridinghouse|access-date=December 11, 2013}} 25 Women: Essays on Their Art was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2016, and featured essays by Hickey from the past twenty years. This body of short essays analyzes the work of Joan Mitchell, Bridget Riley, Fiona Rae, Lynda Benglis, Karen Carson, and many others.{{cite book|last=Hickey|first=Dave|title=25 Women: Essays on Their Art|date=January 14, 2016|url=http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/Other/bo11135990.html|access-date=January 10, 2016 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226333151}} Wasted Words: The Essential Dave Hickey Online Compilation was published by PCP Press in 2016. This book features almost 3,000 digital comments on social media, prompting nearly 700,000 words in response from art lovers, acolytes, and skeptics between June 2014 and April 2015. These writings highlight the impact of digital technology on the author and his online-audience.{{cite book |last=Hickey |first=Dave |title=Wasted Words: The Essential Dave Hickey Online Compilation |date=April 7, 2024 |url=http://pcppress.com/email/wasted_words/wasted_words.html |access-date=January 10, 2016 |publisher=PCP Press |isbn=978-1517287108}}{{cite web | url=http://observer.com/2016/01/art-critic-dave-hickeys-facebook-rants-now-the-subject-of-two-books/ |last=Steadman |first=Ryan | title=Art Critic Dave Hickey's Facebook Rants Now the Subject of Two Books: Are we seeing a new form of art criticism? | work=The Observer |date=January 20, 2016 | access-date=January 21, 2016}}{{cite web | url=http://www.newcriterion.com/posts.cfm/The-Critic-s-Notebook-for-January-25--2016-7983 |last=Panero |first=James | title=Wasted Words: The Essential Dave Hickey Online Compilation, and Dust Bunnies: Dave Hickey's Online Aphorisms, by Dave Hickey, edited by Julia Friedman (PCP Press) | work=The New Criterion| date=January 26, 2016 | access-date=January 28, 2016}} Dust Bunnies: Dave Hickey's Online Aphorisms June 2014 - March 2015 was also published by PCP Press in 2016. This second volume was edited by art historian Julia Friedman. This book is a 124-page collection of fragments selected from Wasted Words, the vast digital discourse from Dave Hickey's social media pages during June 2014 and March 2015. These writings highlight verbal riffs of Hickey blasting away at digital natives and his online-audience.{{cite book |last=Hickey |first=Dave |title=Dust Bunnies: Dave Hickey's Online Aphorisms June 2014 - March 2015|year=2016 |url=http://pcppress.com/email/wasted_words/wasted_words.html |access-date=January 10, 2016 |publisher=PCP Press |isbn= 978-1523272662}}{{cite web | url=http://observer.com/2016/01/art-critic-dave-hickeys-facebook-rants-now-the-subject-of-two-books/ |last=Steadman |first=Ryan | title=Art Critic Dave Hickey's Facebook Rants Now the Subject of Two Books: Are we seeing a new form of art criticism? | work=The Observer | date=January 20, 2016 |access-date=January 21, 2016}}{{cite web | url=http://blogs.bookforum.com/paper/2016/01/18/4398/ | title=Selections of Dave Hickey's Facebook Posts Have Been Published as a Book of Aphorisms Titled Dust Bunnies | work=Bookforum| date=January 18, 2016 |access-date=February 1, 2016}}{{Cite web|last=Peterson|first=Kristen|date=October 15, 2020|title=On the Line with Dave Hickey: A quick check-in with the legendary art critic and appraiser of Las Vegas|url=https://knpr.org/fifth-street/2020-10/october-15-2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201111205048/https://knpr.org/fifth-street/2020-10/october-15-2020|archive-date=November 11, 2020|access-date=November 11, 2020|website=KNBR Nevada Public Radio}} In 2017 the University of Chicago Press published the collection Perfect Wave: More Essays on Art and Democracy.{{Cite web|last=Herbert|first=Martin|date=|year=|orig-date=|title=Perfect Wave|url=https://artreview.com/ar-october-2017-book-dave-hickey-perfect-wave/|archive-date=|access-date=2022-02-10|website=ArtReview|language=en}}

References

External links

[http://knpr.org/knpr/2016-03/art-critic-dave-hickey-facebooks-wasted-words-and-lack-good-art "Art Critic Dave Hickey On Facebook's 'Wasted Words' And The Lack Of Good Art"] (8:32 min radio interview), KNPR Nevada Public Radio with Joe Schoenmann, March 3, 2016.
[https://vimeo.com/164779414 "Art Critic Dave Hickey speaking with Art Historian Julia Friedman"] at SITE Santa Fe, April 15, 2016 -- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KA3ANTFq5w YouTube Trailer]
[http://livestream.com/hammermuseum/hickeyfriedman "Art Critic Dave Hickey speaking with Art Historian Julia Friedman"] at UCLA Hammer Museum, May 11, 2016
[http://vimeo.com/26291438 "Dave Hickey presentation at the School of Visual Arts MFA Art Criticism and Writing Program: The God Ennui"]. September 17, 2009.
[http://www.newsweek.com/id/189229 Article on Dave Hickey in Newsweek, March 14, 2009]
[http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/american-beauty-redux/ Interview with Dave Hickey on The New York Times{{'s}} the Moment blog](dead link - [https://web.archive.org/web/20090407081716/http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com:80/2009/03/23/american-beauty-redux/ archived version])
[http://www.believermag.com/issues/200711/?read=interview_hickey Interview with Dave Hickey in The Believer, November 2007, by Sheila Heti]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060627042334/http://www.nyfa.org/level4.asp?id=118&fid=1&sid=51&tid=168 Interview with Dave Hickey and Ilana Stanger on NYFA]
[http://www.tribes.org/web/2006/10/01/interveiw-with-david-hickey/ "A Gathering of the Tribes"], interview with Dave Hickey by Lee Klein
[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_n10_v33/ai_17239568/pg_1 Essay on Dave Hickey featuring in Artforum, Summer 1995]
[http://english.unlv.edu/faculty/hickey.html Profile on the University of Nevada Las Vegas]
[http://www.library.unr.edu/friends/hallfame/Default.htm Nevada Writers Hall of Fame]
[https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004236375982 Dave Hickey's Facebook page]