The Onion: "Piece Of Art For Sale On Coffeehouse Wall Has Had It Up To Here With The Wiseass Remarks"
Despite his stature as a top shelf art critic, I’m not all that familiar with Dave Hickey‘s writings. I am, however, aware of his reputation as a “tell it like it is” firebrand, found on full display in his recent interview in The Believer. Among the chestnuts revealed:
On the current state of art criticism: “In twenty years we’ve gone from a totally academicized art world to a totally commercialized art world, and in neither case is criticism a function. “
On teaching art at a university: “And if I take a job at a university and I’m a young person, I have six years in which I can’t express my opinion until I get tenure. Now, are you going to remember your opinions for six years? No!”
On MFA programs: “The MFA thing is an invention of the ’70s. Its raison d’être is evaporating.”
And, most reassuringly, on life: “You have all the way till you’re forty to totally f*** up your life.”
Initially Hickey comes across as a Hunter S. Thompson-type, only he’s eviscerating a world (the “art world”) that I’ve always had a hard time believing people took too seriously to begin with. Large numbers of Americans in the 1970′s still thought the governmental institution cared and deserved respect, thus making Thompson’s views edgy, but are there still people who think an MFA is necessary requirement to being an artist? Hickey’s views seem sort of obvious; perhaps the fact that they’re considered radical is the real shocker.
Link: The Believer – Interview with Dave Hickey (Full Text)
