The press release describes Artfuckers as a play about "the second generation artistic elite of Downtown Manhattan -- the privileged children of the money-art scenesters of the 1980s" -- a description so pregnant with nauseating possibilities that it would take pages to parse its full horror. Playwright Michael Domitrovich casts an ambivalent eye on the whole phenomenon, apparently basing Artfuckers on his firsthand experience growing up among the offspring of celebrity artists. He acknowledges the main problem with the downtown art scene -- namely, that it's too much scene and not enough art -- but the play never transcends its own stylization and reliance on caricature, making for a well-intentioned but rather chilly spectacle.
Despite the strobe effects and clubby techno music that open each act, Domitrovich is less interested in the hard-partying lifestyles of the young and trendy than he is in their fraught artistic lives and unorthodox upbringing. Will Janowitz plays Owen, a high-strung visual artist who takes a near-fatal overdose after his exhibition gets discouraging reviews. Much of the play's first half takes the form of a stylized 12-step meeting featuring Owen and his fellow art brats. These include Bella (Nicole LaLiberte), a self-proclaimed "it" girl who is physically and emotionally indistinguishable from an inflatable sex doll; her equally leggy sister Maggie (Jessica Kaye), a publicist and stylist; Trevor (Asher Grodman), a libidinously self-impressed club DJ; and Max (Tuomas Hiltunen), a Eurotrash fashion designer for whom Owen was supposed to create a runway.
In truth, Owen seems a little out of place in this group. Shaggy-haired and flannel-shirted, he's a much more committed and less image-obsessed artist than the rest. As for the others, Domitrovich has some fun at the expense of their preening narcissism ("When we snore, it sounds just a little bit nicer," one character says) and treats their emotional issues with some compassion -- but it's a compassion we recognize intellectually rather than feel directly. Part of the trouble may be Eduardo Machado's direction, which shows visual flair but little interest in exploring what lies beneath the characters' carefully contrived masks.
Presented by Victor Syrmis and Diane Passage
at DR2 Theatre, 103 E. 15th St., NYC.
Feb. 26-Mar. 16. Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 5 and 9 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.
(212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250 or www.telecharge.com.
Casting by Billy Hopkins, Hopkins, Smith, and Barden Casting.