Dave Hickey is one of contemporary art's most unpretentious critics. He has written for Rolling Stone, Art in America and Artforum, and he's published a slew of books on art and pop culture. He's far more interested in the democratic aspects of the art world--the way people make and buy objects simpl

Playful, Psychedelic, Sardonic, Witty

A member of the legendary Cahiers quintet, Jacques Rivette was a critic before a filmmaker. Reading his early criticism, though, it’s clear he thought in images from the start, even in words, emphasizing closed complex circuits of mise-en-scene, the better to form meaning. However, he trains one ey

Absurd, Charming, Conceptual, Death, Enigmatic, Event, Excessive, Feminine, Figurative, Functional, Grotesque, Hallucinatory, Layered, Loose, Manic, Paranoid, Playful, Polychromatic, Quirky, Sardonic, Saturated, Self-reflection, Sexy, Spectral, Whimsical

After graduating from Amherst College in 1983, Elliott Arkin got his start in New York as window designer for Tiffany’s and a special-effectsmodel-builder for films and commercials. These experiences continue to inform his work, which operates in the spaces between high art and popular culture. H

Absurd, Baroque, Classical, Clever, Figurative, Layered, Parody, Pre-modern sculpture, Psychological, Sardonic, Self-reflection, Witty