Dave Hickey, a MacArthur Foundation "genius," was one of the preeminent arts writers of modern times. In the 1960s, he founded the formative art gallery A Clean Well-Lighted Place in Austin. In the 1970s, he was Executive Editor of Art in America in New York. He was Booker for the Dripping Springs Reunion and Staff Songwriter for Glaser Publications in Nashville. He wrote music under the moniker Dave’s Everyday Songs, including “Cooky and Lila,” performed by Dr. Cook, and “Calgary Snow,” performed by Bobby Bare. Hickey was instrumental in defining Outlaw country music, and he is said to have coined the terminology.

In the 1980s, Hickey was named Arts Editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Writing from his new hometown of Las Vegas, Hickey published The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty in 1993. Revered by artists and reviled by art critics, he became well-known as the "beauty guy" in the popular press. Hickey received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism and the Peabody Award for Public Journalism. He served as Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and later, the University of New Mexico. Among exhibitions he organized are South Texas Sweet Funk, Ultralounge, Beau Monde, and Las Vegas Diaspora. His books include Prior Convictions, The Invisible Dragon, Air Guitar, Stardumb, Pirates and Farmers, 25 Women, and Perfect Wave. An album of his music, Life As We Know It, is being released posthumously.