MASTER IN THE STREETS

Hailed as the latest big deal from the art world, John Currin's first solo show at a U.S. museum is still at the Whitney in New York. The show's roughly 40 figurative paintings, many of them satirical, wowed the critics for their cartoonish sensibility, their provocative take on female beauty, and their technical brilliance. (Click on the slide show.)

We liked them, too, though we couldn't see any of them hanging on our living-room wall. Even if we did, we couldn't afford them. But if you like figurative art painted in a Baroque Renaissance style, the work of Kurt Wenner may be an alternative. Though it lacks satire and cartoonish provocation, it is no less technically brilliant from the look of it on the Web (the figuration, to say nothing of the trompe l'eoil, is amazing). And, I presume, it's a helluva lot less expensive.

Wenner, who was born in Michigan and raised in California, has a fascinating background. He bills himself as "Master Street Painter." A friend of mine says: "He is to streets what Michelangelo was to ceilings." Have a look at these: Deposition by Barocci (Santa Barbara, Calif.); Muses, original composition (Lucerne, Switzerland); Cocito, original composition (Padadena, Calif.); Holy Family by Bronzino (Messina, Italy); Concert of Angels (Saarbrucken, Germany); Dies Irae, original composition (Mantova, Italy). All of them are "painted" with pastel chalk.

If nothing else, Wenner's religiosity would be a big hit at the White House.