Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy
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Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy
by Authors:
Dave Hickey
Released: September, 1997
ISBN: 0963726455
Paperback
Sales Rank: 9,128
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List price:
$19.95
Our price:
$13.97
(You save: $5.98)
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| Book > Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy >
Customer Review #1:
 Dont miss "Air Guitar"
This book made me want to call everyone I knew and tell them to read it--and better yet, it made me laugh! alot! "Air Guitar" is an optimistic and witty book about one mans parallels between art and life. Hickey writes brilliantly. I admit I skipped the commentary, but it was few and far between. This is a really good, optimistic book from one of the only influencial people involved in the visual arts who actually has his head on straight. If you skip this one, youre missing a refreshing group of essays and a very, very well-written book.
Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy >
Customer Review #2:
Best Book I Read All Year
A chain of family and friends recommended this book to me--first my niece, then a younger brother, then an older brother, an age range of more than 25 years. Id like to have a box of the books by my front door so I could give one to everyone who comes and goes, including the Fedex man, the mailman, friends and door-to-door salesmen. It is wonderful, intoxicating, and hilarious. Sometimes too wordy, but when it is, it is a little like Moe slapping Curly and then poking him in the eyes. Hickey always brings you back to earth after zooming around the clouds. The book should be required reading for academics and artists alike--youll never think about what you do in the same way after reading this book, which in some ways might be characterized as a love song to life. Utterly delightful. I drove my wife crazy raving about it, now I have to get her a copy, since mine is all marked up with exclamation points.
Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy >
Customer Review #3:
 uh, now what
Im ready- couldnt wait. Finished a book by Leo Marks who was codemaker for SOE during wwii which was very interesting and surprisingly compelling- even when he described the basics of codes and betrayals. But it tired me out in alot of ways. So Hickey seemed a good way to go: clear and noncant according to reputation. Plus I read an interview Hickey gave to a colorado newspaper where he was spot on even if his stevedoreness was a little droll coming from a man obvious bored with small pieties. Started it last night and Im already wavering. My initial enthusiasm is slightly dampened by his repeated use of the word "quotidian" and his phaps too obvious placement of himself as heavy meta dude who hangs with grass in Mexico and in the next breath is able for instance claim that Norman Rockwell is, in fact, a great democratic artist with impressive technical skills. He claims too that every artist he knows admires Rockwell. I always thought it was schlock- I could be wrong- (I think Rockwell leads to Tarantino) but what worries me is that Hickey seems willing to take a perverse position for the pleasure of taking a perverse position. Well thats OK but he isnt Panofsky. Hes acrobatic and synthetic- but afterwards like any dance by Arthur Murray you wonder what you have experienced and when.
The book cover is terrible, almost the worst I have ever seen which again suggests a willful postmodern banality offered w/o irony which is the hippest position possible. Says Sean Puffy Combs, Puff Daddy, P Daddy, P Diddy: "its all good." Hes a genius too.
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Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy >
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