Admiring Quote by Dave Hickey
““...There are issues worth advancing in images worth admiring; and the truth is never "plain," nor appearances ever "sincere." To try to make them so is to neutralize the primary, gorgeous eccentricity of imagery in Western culture since the Reformation: the fact that it cannot be trusted, that imagery is always presumed to be proposing something contestable and controversial. This is the sheer, ebullient, slithering, dangerous fun of it. No image is presumed inviolable in our dance hall of visual politics, and all images are potentially powerful.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: “The Trouble with Images,” Art Journal, 1995
Images are inherently ambiguous; trying to fix them strips their critical, provocative power.
In simple terms: Images thrive on ambiguity and challenge.
Key Takeaway
Embrace the unsettled nature of visual media.
Themes
art
culture
critical theory
Mood
critical
provocative
Type
theoretical
analytical
When to use this quote
- museum curation
- media criticism
- advertising analysis
- educational curricula
Key Concepts
visual politics
image theory
post‑modernism
Questions to Reflect On
- What does it mean to view an image as contestable?
- How can we protect the subversive potential of visual art?
A Different Perspective
Attempting to impose a single truth can limit interpretive richness.
