Art

Rating:
Summary: "ART" imitates life
Review: "ART" lives up to its Tony-winning reputation, at least on the book level. The text examines the results of the seemingly innocuous act of buying a painting and the impact it has on the lives of three male friends. While much is made of the fact that the painting itself is only a white canvas with some vertical lines, its fascinating to observe Yasmina Reza making the point, almost subliminally, that art itself (let alone the question of art) has the power to unify or divide with equal fierceness simply by existing. The discussions these men foist based on the conflict of buying an expensive painting that needs interpreting are incisive and thought-provoking. I don't feel, as some have, that the play is ultimately about friendship among men, though that is certainly an element. But all great works of "ART" are open to discussion.

Rating:
Summary: "Art": in the eye of the beholder
Review: "Art," the play by Yasmina Reza, has been translated into English by Christopher Hampton. The back cover info notes that the play ran in Paris beginning in October 1994 and received its British premiere in 1996.

This 3 character play is about a trio of friends: Marc, Serge, and Yvan. As the play starts Serge has infuriated Marc by buying an all white painting for a huge price. Yvan gets caught in the middle as the three argue over art, the role of the artist, being "modern," personal identity, and relationships.

This description of the play may make it sound a bit like a "Seinfeld" episode. It's an intriguing and witty play. I've never seen it performed, but because it seems to rely so heavily on the presence of a central prop, "Art" may lose some impact as a pure readers' text (not unlike the situation with August Wilson's play "The Piano Lesson"). Ultimately the drama builds to a powerful conclusion. It's a thought-provoking play; I especially recommend it to those who wonder about the nature of art and its role in our world today.

Rating:
Summary: Art truly is subjective
Review: "Art" by Yasmina Riza appears, on the surface, to be simply a debate among three friends over a piece of art. Although the debates that rage on seem to stem from the purchase, there is much more to the story. The relationships and characters and minds of each of the men is explored through their opinions. They use the art work to reveal parts of their characters that they would otherwise never reveal to each other and possibly never admit to themselves. A definite must for anyone's personal library and should definitely be seen on the stage if possible.

Rating:
Summary: "Art": in the eye of the beholder
Review: "Art," the play by Yasmina Reza, has been translated into English by Christopher Hampton. The back cover info notes that the play ran in Paris beginning in October 1994 and received its British premiere in 1996.

This 3 character play is about a trio of friends: Marc, Serge, and Yvan. As the play starts Serge has infuriated Marc by buying an all white painting for a huge price. Yvan gets caught in the middle as the three argue over art, the role of the artist, being "modern," personal identity, and relationships.

This description of the play may make it sound a bit like a "Seinfeld" episode. It's an intriguing and witty play. I've never seen it performed, but because it seems to rely so heavily on the presence of a central prop, "Art" may lose some impact as a pure readers' text (not unlike the situation with August Wilson's play "The Piano Lesson"). Ultimately the drama builds to a powerful conclusion. It's a thought-provoking play; I especially recommend it to those who wonder about the nature of art and its role in our world today.

Rating:
Summary: Art and the Mentor
Review: A deceptively simple masterpiece,Ms.Reza uses art that is the most difficult to agree upon, abstract, as the device around the equally ambiguous territory of the mentor and his understudy. What happens when the understudy graduates by purchasing a work of art without the authority's prior "consent" is just the beginning and as is often the case, Ivan, the innocent bystander is drawn into the play as friends often are, expected to be judge and jury between friends. Perhaps being an abstract, visual artist gives me the knowledge of the "big surprise bang" at the end of the play as it becomes clear that Mark not only understood but was moved by the painting all along and what ensued was not,in fact, that he thought Serge made a collossal mistake, but a man whose own ego couldn't bear what a beautiful purchase Serge was able to make without his assistance. Mark's view of the painting at the end is not possible to suddenly see, but the vision of an erudite man who knew this from the moment he betrayed his friend and "student" by not congratulating him in the first place. This may give it away, but it's better than not getting the truthful, devastating twist the ending of "Art" actually delivers, especially from an artistic perspetive.

Rating:
Summary: Good idea, dull execution
Review: The basic idea underlying "Art" is intriguing as well as promising: The seemingly harmonious relationship between three male friends named Marc, Serge and Yvan is all of a sudden threatened and ultimately put to the test when one of them, Serge, buys a controversial work of modern art - an immaculately white canvas, decorated only with a few solitary lines, to be precise. While this constellation is indeed promising, as it could be used by the playwright both to explore the different layers of (male) friendship and to set the stage for a broad discussion of man's diverging tastes and attitudes towards art, not much is made of this starting point.

To be sure, the play opens on an interesting note when Serge proudly presents the newly acquired "painting" to a startled Marc. Confronted with an all but white canvas Marc tactlessly expresses his dismay at Serge's being so stupid as to have wasted money on such a nonsensical object, a remark that obviously leads to a quarrel between the two longtime friends. Yvan on the other hand, always anxious to please everybody, shows interest and admiration for the purchase when with Serge, but changes sides and joins in mocking the canvas when together with Marc. From this point on, just as the reader is keenly anticipating the plot's next intriguing turn, the play degenerates into a mixture of shallow aphorisms and déjà-vus: The three men decide to meet in order to talk their differences of opinion over, and doing so they come to realize (and to avow) that the whole time their friendship and even their lives were tainted with some embarrassing realities.

In the end the three make up, although their friendship will probably never be the same again. Exactly why they agree to bury the hatchet, however, never becomes quite clear, and thus no real attempt is made to decode the complexity of (male) friendship, just as art's role in the development of events never gets the attention it really deserves. In conclusion one might say that far too little has been made of a very promising initial idea.

Rating:
Summary: Now Go See The Play
Review: The read is, of course, so very flat relative to the performance. But some of the steryling dynamic one watches unfold on stage comes through. The play is most powerful as an expose of man's extreme need to identify with certain ideas to the point of undermining important relationships. Reza demonstrates our clumsey need to be important through these ideas or opinions,even when they have only the remotest bearing on our everyday lives. Such an opinion can be what one thinks about contemporary art [even with all of its socio-political implications]. The consequences of this behavior can be tragic and raises the very important question of why this need is so powerful that we are willing to risk an, I believe, objectively more important thing in our everyday lives, a very close friendship. This self-destructive behavior is so endemic and yet so rarely questioned thoughtfully. Reza's play is terrific because, with humor and pathos, she demonstrates this oh so human behavior so 'artisticly'.

Rating:
Summary: An intelligent, witty, thought provoking play!
Review: This is an exciting play about friendship and art that moves along at an animated pace from start to finish. As I started reading the play, I had an immediate positive reaction to it, and was swept along by its delightful dialogue. While the play does deal with the question of "What is art?" it does so in a humorous (not pedantic) way through the characters' relationships with one another. The ideas about art are explored in the context of friendship, and ulitmately, I think, the subject of friendship is central to the play. Reza explores the idea: Are we who we are as defined by others, or as defined by ourselves; and further, do we value friendships based on our definition of who the other person is, or on the other person's definition of him or herself? The ideas Reza explores are somewhat reminiscent of Sartre's play "No Exit," but don't make too much of the comparison, since Reza's style and approach is very different, and the situation in which the characters find themselves is a realistic one. Anyone who likes plays about ideas and plays about character will enjoy this fresh, witty play.

Rating:
Summary: hilariously funny and insightful
Review: This play is so well-written that right after seeing it performed I went out and bought the play and reread it--that very night. Yasmina Reza has a startling wit and beautiful timing. This is truly a must-read; also, check out her play, "The Unexpected Man." I highly reccommend that as well!

Rating:
Summary: Art in Value Structures
Review: Three good friends. One piece of art. Three different opinions. And a whole lot of fuss over the whole thing. Art, or the conception of art, is something very personal. The "white painting with three lines" is the catalyst for the three friends to examine their attitudes towards not only art itself but all that it signifies. Slight differences in opinion lead to greater conflict, often escalating to ridiculous proportions.(After all, this is a comedy.) "Art" is not simply about art nor about friendship but explores further, reviewing personal value structures and diplaying how these values affect our everyday lives and interpersonal relationships through witty and realistic dialogue. Although "Art" is best viewed on stage, reading the play and envisioning with one's own imagination is also a worthy experience.