Ten Unknowns

Malcolm Raphelson is a painter who was at the top of the art world - until the critical vogue turned from realism to abstract expressionist work

He has been in self-imposed exile in Mexico for decades, unit dealer Trevor Fabricant decides it's time for a retrospective. Trevor sends Judd, a talented and tormented young painter, to serve as Malcolm's assistant and unofficial minder

When they are joined by a beautiful young student, their tense equilibrium is upset

In Ten Unknowns, Baitz portrays, "a world conflicted with questions about the tyranny of art, fashion, and quality, about the benefits and blind spots in the outsider sensibility,about the warring American impulses for good and for meddling" ~ Newday