Sight Unseen 2004

Margulies' play is the story of Jonathan Waxman, a superstar artist, so popular that collectors will buy his work "sight unseen." In London for a major retrospective, Jonathan decides to call his former girlfriend, Patricia, who posed for him as a student and whose influence became a turning point in his early career. Patricia is now married to Nick; they live in the English countryside, where they excavate ancient Roman ruins. She invites Jonathan to spend the night. When he arrives, tensions arise among the threesome. Patricia is still angry that Jonathan dumped her, and wonders about his motives for visiting. Nick, insecure in his marriage, despises both Jonathan's art and his superstar status. Jonathan finds a painting in Patricia's house he had hoped would be there -- "it would fill an empty niche in his show" -- but he also finds himself wondering why his work has never been as good since he left her. The scenes in the countryside are intermingled with scenes of an interview with a German journalist, Grete. Grete questions Jonathan's motivations for his art and his self-promotion. She repeatedly brings up his Jewish heritage, and Jonathan accuses her of anti-Semitism. Throughout Sight Unseen , questions about art, money, love, and inspiration, their codependency and the ways in which they are inextricably entangled, are brought to the surface.