By Ginia Bellafante

De Kooning Jr.

Detractors of abstract painting typically criticize the genre with the words "My kid could do that." Few could make that claim as truthfully as the parents of Chicago seventh-grader LEO IONITA, who began painting when he was seven. Abstract works by the 13-year-old now sell for up to $4,000 and hang in 50 private collections around the world. The French tourism bureau has commissioned three of his paintings. Living in a converted windmill with his mother and father, Leo says he just wants to paint and if his art "goes anywhere as a business, that would be great."

Off Again, Off Again

America's favorite dysfunctional mom, ROSEANNE ARNOLD, is doing it again--getting divorced, that is, from hyperactive husband-producer TOM ARNOLD. Last month she withdrew her petition after three days, along with all those terrible things she said about his being a two-timing wife beater. This time she is simply citing irreconcilable differences. She adds that they have been separated since December. And that she wants to avoid paying him any alimony.

Bard of Frankenstein

He's been portrayed by Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi; he has endured space aliens, werewolves and awful directors. Now Frankenstein's monster is returning to the screen via the unschlocky lens of director KENNETH BRANAGH. "The themes in the book are more relevant today than ever," says Branagh, who plays the monster's creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. "The advances in genetic science become more extraordinary with each passing week." As the title, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, suggests, Branagh's film, which also stars HELENA BONHAM CARTER as the scientist's fiance Elizabeth, attempts to distinguish itself from the camp versions of the story by remaining true to the text. The beast (played by Robert De Niro) remains the misunderstood creature Shelley intended. With its humanistic approach, says Branagh, the film is "more redolent of the delivery room than the lab."

SEEN & HEARD

It was not a good week for Hollywood B-list couples. After two years of marriage, half-pint singer Paula Abdul and The Mighty Ducks star Emilio Estevez split up amid tabloid rumors (denied by their publicists) that she has rekindled an affair with Full House cast member John Stamos and that Estevez has taken up again with former model Marla Hanson. But at least they gave it a couple of years. The marriage of Drew Barrymore and Welsh barkeep Jeremy Thomas lasted barely two months before the 19-year-old actress filed for divorce.

For all those concerned about John Wayne Bobbitt, there is good news. On Inside Edition this week, the dismemberment victim, who has a new fiance, reveals that he is fully operational. "It's like it was before," he says, referring to his celebrated surgically reattached organ. "There's no problem."