[The Seven by Nine Squares home page] [YAWN 10] [Art Strike 1990-1993]

VOICES

Would it bother you if artists ceased production during Art Strike 1990-93?


Aylesa Singly, 30
Account manager
Chicago, Ill.

It wouldn't bother me as long as I knew everyone stopped creating - and not just because everyone else was doing it, but because a belief that it would make a real difference in peoples' lives. We really do have to protect our cultural integrity. If museums, art schools, and advertising agencies would close down for three years I believe it would make a real difference.


Karl Rosen, 45
Corporate travel director
Anaheim, Calif.

Yes. It is a disregard for my right to experience the fine arts in the public institution of my choice. Museums are supposed to be places where you can get away from all the hassles. Who is to say that "they"-the art police, concerned artists-will stop at only three years without art? Also, if art is truly for the people, it should be free and open to anyone who wants to encounter it.


Pinky Gilbert, 46
Real estate agent
Smyrna, Ga.

I have nothing to hide, the last time I created anything was when I turned a high school cafeteria lunch tray into an abstract kind of sculpture, so it wouldn't bother me if other people wanted to give up such a useless activity like making art. You could check up on me anytime during the art strike, but you'd be wasting your time. My life is an open book-and during the art strike you can bet I'll be doing more productive and more meaningful things with my time.


Dave Hall, 63
Retired boilermaker
Gibbstown, N. J.

No. I support what the art strike has to do to protect our cultural progress. If any Art Strike Action Committee were to call on me for support through artistic inaction, I would not hesitate. You aren't going to find my name ascribed to any artistic production for 3 years-or 30 years even! Its definitely the right choice for American artists. Foreign artists, too.


Joy Corbett, 38
Diamond saleswoman
Coon Rapids, Minn.

Yes, I shouldn't feel that Big Brother is watching while I check out a Van Gogh. Just because artistic expression is something you feel inside, a burning inner passion, doesn't mean you're reinforcing the stereotype of artists as flaky visionaries. Too many artists are discriminated against because nonartists who promote 3 years-or even one day!-without art act concerned about the state of art in a world gone mad. Real artists know what real life is. Their surveillance would only promote discrimination. Artstrikers are Artcriminals.


1990: The end of art(ifice) T.he E.ntire P.opulation supports the Art Strike