‘Art’: A Friendship Meets Its Match in a Nearly Blank Canvas

This rip-roaring comedy focuses on three very different friends and one very ugly piece of art.

(L-R) It's unclear if the 15-year friendship among Serge (Chad Bay), Marc (Justin Albinder), and Yvan (Eduardo Curley) survive the purchase of the painting, in "Art." Nomee Photography

CHICAGO—Art experts may not find “Art” to their liking, but the audience at the play I recently attended at the Remy Bumppo Theatre in Chicago obviously loved it. They howled in laughter at its jaw-dropping hilarious take on modern art.

Written by French playwright Yasmina Reza, “Art” premiered in Paris in 1994, was translated into English by Christopher Hampton for its London production in 1996, and moved to Broadway in 1998, where it won a Tony Award for Best Play.