Picture this: painter fumes over suit

ART world darling Damian Loeb has a bevy of bold-faced buddies and a sold-out new exhibit, "Public Domain," but the reedy painter is still seething about a lawsuit filed against him by photographer Lauren Greenfield. "The more exposure I get, the bigger target I become, and the longer I have to pay my lawyer $400 an hour," Loeb lamented to PAGE SIX. Loeb combines images from photos, but not the actual photos, in his paintings at the Mary Boone Gallery until May 5. He was sued by Greenfield after he juxtaposed her image of four kids in a car with another image and sold it for $15,000 in 1999. Loeb says he didn't let the ongoing litigation change his signature style. "I'm not going to change my work out of fear and become some hack," he said. "You have to do what you want to do." Among the buyers of Loeb's paintings - which were quickly sold at up to $55,000 apiece (though Loeb only gets half) - was New Line Cinema co-chairman Michael Lynne, who bought a canvas which cannibalized the pool scenes in New Line's "Boogie Nights." Mingling with the horde of hipsters at Saturday's opening of "Public Domain" (which is what Loeb maintains his images are in) were David Bowie and wife Iman, Loeb's glamorous galpal Plum Sykes, best friend Moby, and "X-Men" actress Famke Janssen.