Last night I went to hear acclaimed art world grenade launcher Dave Hickey give a talk to celebrate the release of his new essay collection, Pirates and Farmers: Essays on Taste. The talk covered - or really, incinerated - a lot of ground, all of it tied to how the art world has changed since 1972. As those familiar with his work would guess, Hickey is decidedly not in favor of those changes, to about the same degree as I would be not in favor if you suggested I cram my right paw into the nearest churning garbage disposal. 

Hickey’s core gripe is the mainstreaming of the art world over the past several decades - or more specifically, what he sees as a broad and stomach-turning set of compromises made by an older generation of artists, imposed on (and accepted by) their successors.