The entire show at the Carnegie was extremely versatile, but one artist's work compelled me for hours afterwards. John Currin's nude paintings were so delicately perfected that I found a lump in my very throat each time I gazed upon their beautiful faces. The various pieces, for me, represented the hardship of the average American woman trying to fit the molds fashioned after size six anorexic models. In this society based on good looks and yearly income, here are these amazingly stoic beauties. They are as pure and erotic as any common day nineties models, and the thing that struck me was the horrible distortion of their body structure. It's almost the luscious, overweight style in which the Greek paintings were made (Birth of Venus etc.). They are grotesque and at the same time, the most beautiful creatures I have ever looked upon. They are alluring, disturbing and wonderful.