In response to my article about the Last Art Show survey, posted on the Culture Wars website (www.culturewars.org.uk), Jonathan Day from Corvallis, Oregon, writes that he has no interest in my five survey questions regarding the show, scheduled for June 21 of this year in London, but he adds:

First, if someone who calls himself an artist is able to participate in this show—that is, is able to burn his own “work”—then I think he should. The more of his own “work” be burns, the better. Second, if he cannot bring himself to burn his own work, he may be an artist. If he can, he certainly is not.

He concludes that this is not open for discussion, suggesting that he may be an artist. Unacknowledged by Mr. Day, the Last Art Show thus provides a useful criterion of who may be, as well as who definitely is not, an artist. Such a criterion is undoubtedly of great value in an age when it is so difficult to distinguish between the two groups. As Mr. Day’s criterion is not open for discussion, it can be applied without further ado.