Of course, men don't fare much better in Currin's paintings, as his supporters often point out. Especially in his early work, men appear as fey, bearded, foppish playboys with big sad eyes who look like they were pieced together from a grab bag of half-remembered features. Most critics point to Currin's men as evidence of his equal-opportunity animus. But even though Currin's men may seem pathetic, they inhabit a porn-fantasy world where unattractive, goatlike guys still manage to get the babes. In Lovers in the Country, for instance, a bearded Lothario in a double-breasted blazer holds an enormous pipe and contemplates his conquest of the luscious blonde on his arm—who, incidentally, has dropped out of a Tiepolo ceiling panel at the Met. (Hey, it is pleasant to know things!)