Five New York Exhibitions Not To Miss: Stefan Bondell

In probably Chelsea’s biggest post-pandemic opening, one thousand New Yorkers braved the February freeze to view Stefan Bondell’s “Dark Marks.” The seventeen paintings, gessoed canvas with black acrylic, propel the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrous to a cooly contemporary and historically harrowing vision.

New Yorker and lifelong Metropolitan Museum enthusiast, Bondell mines classical figures from the collection, ranging from classical Greek, Roman, Mayan and African statuary collaged next to images of political figures ranging from Giuliani to Trump to oligarchs. Interspersed among a swirling and hypnotic background…. think Aubrey Beardsley on acid…… are images of protests, the beleaguered White House, and blind justice teetering after the Insurrectionist onslaught.