Jon Robin Baitz’s new play looks at the art world, circa 1992, through the lens of an expatriate artist who went out of fashion when the Abstract Expressionists came into vogue. While it’s no masterpiece, Ten Unknowns benefits from Baitz’s smart observations as well as strong performances by film and theater veteran Donald Sutherland and his three co-stars.

Sutherland plays Malcolm Raphelson, an old-school figurative painter who lives in Mexico and has not set foot in the U.S. for 28 years. "Have I missed anything?" he asks at one point. Since he refuses to have a phone, Malcolm is paid a visit from his dealer, Trevor Fabricant (Denis O’Hare), who wants to mount a solo retrospective of his client’s work. Malcolm resists, though, and his assistant, Judd Sturgess (Justin Kirk), isn’t much more enthusiastic. It turns out that Judd has been doing far more than just mixing paint and cleaning brushes, and the play’s central question revolves around whether Malcolm can still paint or whether Judd is doing most of the painting for him.

Complicating matters further, a grad student named Julia Bryant (Julianna Margulies) enters the picture, so to speak. She’s studying vanishing reptiles--mating frogs, in particular--and hopes to pose for Malcolm, who quickly becomes smitten with her and invites her to move into a spare bedroom.

"There’s room for everyone at the casa del art," Judd says in his habitually sarcastic way. He is a young, upper middle class gay man temporarily fleeing New York and his addictions to drugs and sex. It’s a complex role, probably the most interesting in the play. That’s because the other roles border on the stereotypical: Malcolm is the bearded, shaggy-haired has-been artist, afraid to face his critics and his own inadequacies; Trevor is a typically money-hungry art dealer who doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice Judd to make a buck; and Julia is an earnest environmentalist who wants to change the world--not to mention Mexico.

Baitz gives them all interesting things to say, but they still remain identifiable types. And while the play is tightly plotted, it doesn’t really say anything new about the art world, and the conclusion is neither satisfying nor very believable. Best known for The Substance of Fire and A Fair Country, which were also capably directed by Daniel Sullivan, Baitz paints with broad strokes here. Some subtler shading would have helped.

Fortunately, his cast makes the most of what they’ve been given. Sutherland is convincing as the jaded, hard-drinking, past-his-prime yet still charismatic artist who once apprenticed to Diego Rivera. As Malcolm’s apprentice, Kirk employs the same distinctive but natural speaking style that made him so good in Love! Valour! Compassion!. Margulies--who famously left ER despite a highly lucrative contract--is at once attractive, vivacious, and intelligent as Julia. It’s no wonder Malcolm falls for her. Unfortunately, their discussions of Mexico and its environment don’t have much to do with the play’s larger themes about the materialistic art world. And as the materialistic art worldýs representative, Denis O’Hare isn’t able to make his character much more than a caricature of a New York art dealer.

Besides Sullivan’s fine direction, the Lincoln Center Theater production also boasts an appropriately cluttered set by Ralph Funicello and pretty,painterly lighting by Pat Collins. Also making a strong contribution is Daniel Adel, who is responsible for the handsome paintings that are central to the play’s proprietary issues.

Baitz raises a number of provocative questions in Ten Unknowns, and he does so entertainingly enough that even audiences unfamiliar with the New York art world should be entertained. Still, considering the playwright’s prodigious talent, his latest work might have been even more artful.