Perfect Wave: More Essays on Art and Democracy

A collection of essays by American art critic Dave Hickey, nicknamed “The Bad Boy of Art Criticism.”

When Dave Hickey was twelve, he rode the surfer’s dream: the perfect wave. And, like so many things in life we long for, it didn’t quite turn out—he shot the pier and dashed himself against the rocks of Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach, which nearly killed him.

Hickey went on to develop a career as one of America’s foremost critical iconoclasts, a trusted no—nonsense voice commenting on the w...