

If "The Art of Painting" were a real art history lecture, it would be a sophomore's dream. The instructor (Mark Chrisler) is cute, and he makes the lives of long-dead white European men entertaining.In this case, the chief artist is Johannes Vermeer and the major work under discussion is one of Vermeer's personal favorites, "The Art of Painting," made in 1675, the year he died. In it, an artist with his back to us sits in a room with a chandelier and marble tile floors and works on a portrait of Clio, the muse of history.

But the fun of this 50-minute Found Objects Theater Group solo show - written by Mr. Chrisler, ably directed by Tim Racine and having its New York premiere at the Fringe - is in the human details. Vermeer's father, we learn, beat up a man in a pub fight (the man later died). The artist was so obscure in his lifetime that he left his widow and children in "monstrous debt." Generations later, Hermann Goering ended up with what he thought was a Vermeer (it was declared a forgery).

The forger, Han Van Meegeren (1889-1947), took advantage of Vermeer's rediscovery but ended up accused of selling Dutch national treasures to Nazis. A good bit more "decay and decadence" is salted into the lecture, too.

As a performer and as a playwright, Mr. Chrisler has presence and a way with words. He also has a lot to work against, in a minuscule basement theater with an electric fan circulating warm air. His real accomplishment is not just keeping the audience awake, though. Near the end, he shows us a series of painting images and asks us to judge which are forgeries and which are the real thing. It turns out that his class has actually learned something.

"The Art of Painting' continues through Saturday at Jimmy's 43, 43 East Seventh Street, East Village; (866) 468-7619.


PHOTO: Mark Chrisler in ''The Art of Painting,'' which he also wrote. (PHOTOGRAPH BY DIXIE SHERIDAN)