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Say contemporary German art to most people and they think neo-expressionism. They aren't wrong, but the show of contemporary German prints now at Grimaldis demonstrates clearly that the spectrum is wider than that.There's ample expressionism, of course, by the likes of Georg Baselitz, Markus Lupertz and others.But while expressionism often reflects the darker side of human experience, there is some levity here.There's an element of humor in the shapes of Baselitz's "Nurse"; and while "Brett" reveals Baselitz's well-known upside-down figure, there's a hint of the witty caricature about this work.

Not long ago I had a conversation with a friend in Philadelphia who asked about the Maryland Institute, College of Art. Her son was thinking of applying there and the two of them had justvisited the Institute. I said I hoped they had seen the current faculty exhibit, since I thought that would give them a good idea of the caliber of the faculty.Were I a parent whose child was thinking of studying art, after seeing the current faculty exhibit at Towson State University I'd certainly hope he'd go somewhere else.

A sweep of centuries, a spectrum of moods, a parade of styles and quite simply a lot of superb art from the Renaissance to yesterday can be found in the Baltimore Museum of Art's "Print and Drawing Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition."There is Durer's engraving "Melancolia I," one of the most famous prints of all time, and Picasso's "The Minotauromachy," perhaps the greatest print of the 20th century.There is Rembrandt's copperplate of "St. Jerome Kneeling in Prayer" from 1635 and there is Sue Coe's "Supreme Court" from 1992.

Steve Reber's sculptures and drawings soak up interpretation the way a sponge soaks up water. The minute you think you see them one way, they accept that and ask for something else. That's not because they're wishy-washy; it's because they're open and receptive.In his sometimes lumbering (but always endearingly lumbering) objects of rubber and plaster and steel, and in his sometimes dithery (but always charmingly dithery) drawings, it's possible to see elements of surrealism, science fiction, whimsical humor and deadly serious social comment, the nurturing of life and the finality of death, the battle of good and evil.

The announcement this week that the BAUhouse must vacate its present space was sad news. I know little about the performance aspect of its activities, but as an art gallery the BAUhouse has been consistently dedicated to presenting emerging artists. If the success of its shows has been varied, the ideas behind them have usually been interesting, and the space is good for showing art.What makes the news all the sadder is that the latest and last show at this location, "Intimacy of Fear," is one of the best.

New York -- The sales of contemporary art Wednesday night at Sotheby's and Tuesday night at Christie's that opened the spring auction season were tailored to raise the morale of a troubled art market. Both houses offered important works with relatively low price estimates in the hope of stimulating a sluggish market.The strategy worked well at Christie's, where 51 of the 70 works up for sale found buyers. Sales totaled $11,261,032, near the auction house's high estimate of $11.7 million, with private collectors dominating the buying.

Two drawings hanging side-by-side at the Baltimore Museum of Art show how different much the same material can be -- or seem -- when fashioned by different hands with different sensibilities behind them. Brice Marden's and Sol LeWitt's drawings are only a few years apart (1974-1976 and 1981, respectively); both are untitled; both are geometric drawings of black lines on white paper, Marden's a grid and LeWitt's resembling three sides of a box.LeWitt's, however, is precise, cool, intellectual, disciplined, remote.

Printmaking is alive and well, and so is abstraction, in the Maryland Institute's latest show, "Collector's Choice: A Selection from Bob Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop."Blackburn, a member of the Institute faculty and a printmaker himself, has a workshop in New York. The show has been selected from his collection of the prints made there by a number of artists, and his taste tends toward abstraction.Among the artists, we will all recognize Grace Hartigan, whose lithograph "Butterfly Woman" has her characteristic dynamic energy, fluid line, color sense and vivid imagery.

I'm going to wander away, awayWhere there are islandsI'm going to sail on down the BayWithout a thought for the night.

"Personal Vision/Diverse Images: An Exhibition of Recent Sculptural Glass" (through May 31) might seem a strange choice for the National Museum of Ceramic Art. But a look in the dictionary reveals that the word ceramic can refer to "the manufacture of any product [as earthenware, porcelain, tile, brick, glass, vitreous enamels . . .] made essentially from a non-metallic mineral by firing at high temperatures." You're never too old to learn.The 44 examples gathered for this show may not cover all the bases of contemporary glassmaking, but they constitute an attractive group of sculptural (that is, non-functional)