Ravels in Review Memorial Day Weekend

Ubi Roi, Hernan Bas at Lehmann Maupin

Yes, it has been a week already, and luckily things have calmed down since the fire on my block last week. In fact, they have slowed to a crawl, which is about the pace my sinuses can handle right now.

• Despite the fog in my brain, or perhaps because of, I tried to explain the greatness of Erasmus based on the fact he named himself 'Desire Desire.' He did some other things too.

• I questioned whether Francis Bacon could qualify as the greatest painter of the 20th twentieth, and got at least a few votes for greatness, if not greatest painter ever. I'm hanging out on a limb until I see the retrospective up at the Met now.

• The oldest sculpture ever was discovered, and there is some very scientific discussion about how sex-obsessed early humans were.

• Dr. Seuss made taxidermic sculptures. Who knew?

• A note on public art at the Lever House, Richard Woods is giving it a Tudor-style makeover.

All in all, a good week. Some things to look forward to in the art world, like Francis Bacon at the Met and promising-sounding Hernan Bas exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and Lehmann Maupin, and a long Memorial Day weekend ahead.

H