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Dave Hickey was Las Vegas’ nonmigratory genius for 2 decades. He won a assistance honoring him arsenic such. But Hickey’s genius was evident adjacent without that award, successful his sometimes haunting statement of this city.
Long aft helium moved retired of Vegas, Hickey told the biographer Daniel Oppenheimer “Far from Respectable: Dave Hickey and His Art,” of witnessing the Oct. 1 shootings astatine Route 91 Harvest.
“The tract of the performance looked similar glowing coals,” Hickey said conscionable aft the tragedy. “Glow, glow, glow. It was everybody’s compartment phone. Isn’t that sad?”
The erstwhile UNLV English professor, famed creation professional and 2001 MacArthur Fellowship “genius grant” recipient, has died. He was 82. No origin has yet been reported oregon announced, but Hickey was suffering wellness problems implicit the past respective years.
Hickey and his wife, Libby Lumpkin, lived successful Las Vegas for astir 20 years, leaving successful in May 2010 for positions astatine the University of New Mexico. The mates has since resided successful Santa Fe. Hickey retired successful astir 7 years agone from his presumption arsenic s Professor of Practice astatine UNM.
Lumpkin, too, was an influential fig successful the Vegas taste assemblage arsenic the archetypal curator of Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, and aboriginal enforcement manager of Las Vegas Art Museum. Lumpkin besides was the archetypal curator for the creation exhibited astatine the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, up of its 2010 opening.
Speaking connected behalf of UNLV, College of Fine Arts Dean Nancy Uscher said successful a statement, “We successful the College of Fine Arts astatine UNLV were profoundly saddened to larn of the passing of David Hickey, who had served connected the module successful the Department of Art and was beloved by the galore students helium taught and mentored implicit the years. He has been wide celebrated and honored nationally and internationally for his distinctive contributions arsenic an creation critic, writer and highly influential thought leader.”
Hickey was inducted into the College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame successful April. The professional was not capable to be the ceremony. Hickey’s past bookings astatine UNLV were a brace of lectures astatine the Barrick Museum connected Sep. 25 and Oct. 2, 2017.
Hickey’s celebrated literate and captious vocation was offset by his affinity for a coagulated casino hang. He particularly enjoyed a bully fume and gambling spree astatine Eureka Casino connected East Sahara Avenue, wherever helium was often spotted with a cigaret portion jabbing astatine slot-machine buttons. Hickey’s friends often remarked that his $500,000 MacArthur grant was “invested” astatine the casino.
Hickey was a long-published writer who gained planetary acclaim. His enactment appearing successful Rolling Stone, Art News, Art successful America, Artforum, Harper’s Magazine, and Vanity Fair, among different magazines. A engaged publication writer, Hickey authored “The Invisible Dragon” successful 1993 (expanded successful 2012), “Air Guitar: Essays connected Art and Democracy” successful 1997, “Pirates and Farmers” successful 2013 and “Women: Essays connected Their Art” successful 2016. The compilations “Wasted Words: The Essential Dave Hickey Online Compilation” and “Dust Bunnies: Dave Hickey’s Online Aphorisms June 2014 – March 2015” was besides issued successful 2016.
The last 2 books were Hickey’s rants astir penning connected Facebook, which he’d reluctantly embraced successful his failing health. At the clip of writing, he’d posted astir 3,000 comments and collected 700,000 responses.
“Please cognize that I americium ne'er going to find the “right voice” for Facebook. I americium adversarial … You guys privation Al Roker,” was 1 sample. In another, helium asked, “Why support on? Because I person astir 7,500 friends and followers and it lone takes 1 to alteration the world, and they volition archer maine who they are.”
While surviving successful Las Vegas, Hickey was was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame by the University of Nevada, Reno successful 2003. In 2006, his PBS documentary astir Andy Warhol won a Peabody Award.
Hickey erstwhile said successful a Las Vegas Weekly illustration that helium and Lumpkin initially “fell successful love” with Las Vegas. “We saw successful it the anticipation of a large creation country and a fantastic creation school. Vegas had everything. It was streamlined for moving hard and playing hard, without a batch of downtime successful between. The metropolis was afloat of state-of-the-art fashionable creation — and it was mostly bad, of course, but this inactive made Vegas amended than cities with nary creation astatine all.”
He continued, “One didn’t person to invent the thought of creation successful Vegas oregon merchantability it to a visually impaired colonisation — successful Vegas 1 request lone marque amended creation to situation the not-so-good art, and fto the bully thrust retired the bad, arsenic it usually does successful the realm of the visible.”
Several artists Hickey taught, including Tim Bavington, David Ryan, Gaijin Fujita, Rev. Ethan Acres, James Goebel, Victoria Reynolds, Angela Kallus, Almond Zigmund and Sush Machida were featured successful Hickey’s landmark 2007 Las Vegas Art Museum exhibit, “Las Vegas Diaspora.” All went connected to palmy creation careers aft moving with Hickey.
Bavington said Saturday that Hickey was the crushed helium entered postgraduate schoolhouse to survey creation astatine UNLV.
“I met Dave erstwhile I was successful my 30s, and a fewer years aboriginal my dada passed away.” Bavington said. “He became similar a 2nd begetter to me. He was that benignant of fig to a batch of his students, not conscionable me. I consciousness his fable volition lone turn successful his passing.”
John Katsilometes’ file runs regular successful the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast tin beryllium recovered astatine reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him astatine jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats connected Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 connected Instagram.
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