His image is self-refuting. It places people outside of created meanings. At the same time, it argues that nothing else can exist. Making meaning of art, as Arthur C. Danto points out, means questioning the uniqueness of an artwork , even putting art history behind one. Creating one's own meanings might lead to political activism, too, and Hickey appears not to be ready for the questions that might turn up.
Hickey wants a world of creativity and doubt.
Yet he cannot bear the thought that artists might actually doubt anything. Yuck, how reductive. Anxiety sure sounds great, until it might scare people into questioning his libertarian premises. Making meaning is fine, until it entails real thought about art institutions and society. Anxiety without dissent sounds curious disembodied.