NEW YORK - Some artists got naked on Wall Street during a performance art piece _ and then they got arrested.

The two men and a woman were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct Monday morning outside the New York Stock Exchange.

Manhattan artist Zefrey Throwell organized the 5-minute social critique of Wall Street with dozens of volunteers acting like people at work. He says he didn't intend to provoke police and his target was US and world financial institutions.

Among those arrested was Brooklyn personal trainer and performance artist Eric Clinton Anderson, who played a naked janitor outside the stock exchange's heavily guarded front door. He jokes, "Somebody needs to clean up Wall Street."

Arrested with Anderson were another Brooklyn man and a Queens woman. Police say they created a public disturbance.