Dave Hickey

Pirates and Farmers: Essays on Taste
Edited by Karsten Schubert and Doro Globus
Softback

Publisher: Ridinghouse 2013.

ISBN: 978 1 905464 72 2

Dimensions: 22.5 × 14.9 cm | 9 1/8 × 5 7/8 in

Pages: 192 pp, 15 colour ill
£15.95 | $25

Arguably one of the most astute critics working today, Dave Hickey's multi-decade career as a leading cultural commentator is characterised by his blend of high and mass culture and his fervent critique of the celebrity-driven culture of the art world in the 21st century. 

 

In his usual humorous manner, Hickey has declared that: ‘I miss being an elitist and not having to talk to idiots’ in a field that, he believes, is defined by the commoditisation of art and the self-referential tendencies of criticism itself.

 

Author of popular books Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy and The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty, this new body of shorter essays looks at more contemporary phenomena: super-collectors, the trope of the biennale and the loss of looking.