A Deconstructive Reading of Yasmina Reza’s Art

Abstract

This article is an investigation of Derrida’s deconstructive strategies on Yazmina's Reza's Art in which concepts such as floating signifier, differance, paradoxes, and decentralization have been applied. Here the question of aesthetic values of modern abstract art is raised. Reza confronts us with a miscommunication as a shortcoming of the language and therefore a rift in a longstanding friendship. The play is about a white painting, but each character in the play observes the painting in a different color. It seems that the color acts as a sign which is caught up in a chain of signifiers that never rest on a definite signified. In addition, the painting which is the centre of the play is decentred and replaced by one of the characters of the play. At the end, it is demonstrated that the text of this play is indeterminate without giving us any definite meaning.