25 Women: Essays on Their Art

*Newsweek* calls him "exhilarating and deeply engaging." *Time Out New York* calls him "smart, provocative, and a great writer." Critic Peter Schjeldahl, meanwhile, simply calls him "My hero." There's no one in the art world quite like Dave Hickey-and a new book of his writing is an event. *25 Women* will not disappoint. The book collects Hickey's best and most important writing about female artists from the past twenty years. But this is far more than a compilation: Hickey has revised each essay, bringing them up to date and drawing out common themes. Written in Hickey's trademark style-accessible, witty, and powerfully illuminating-*25 Women* analyzes the work of Joan Mitchell, Bridget Riley, Fiona Rae, Lynda Benglis, Karen Carson, and many others. Hickey discusses their work *as* work, bringing politics and gender into the discussion only where it seems warranted by the art itself. The resulting book is not only a deep engagement with some of the most influential and innovative contemporary artists, but also a reflection on the life and role of the critic: the decisions, judgments, politics, and ethics that critics negotiate throughout their careers in the art world. Always engaging, often controversial, and *never* dull, Dave Hickey is a writer who gets people excited-and talking-about art. *25 Women* will thrill his many fans, and make him plenty of new ones.