Chafe may have returned from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, speaking some Spanish, but his paintings, drawings and monotypes do not. He shunned the influence that might have been expected, instead came back with work that is slightly surreal and Ben Shahn-like in its commentary. But for Chafe, a young artist, this is an improvement over his previous work, distinctly cubistic, and is clearly a step forward in his development. A facile draftsman, Chafe is looking harder and loosening his pencil grip. His drawings are freer, although economical, and sure. His print of a bride and bridegroom and a drawing of a man and woman, sitting on a bed, naked and lonely, are bittersweet observations of conjugal love. Two somber graphics of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are intense, darkly done, and surprisingly mature.
––Larry Rottersman
