Just released at Counter Editions: New York editions by New York Artists

Just released at Counter Editions: New York editions by New York Artists. Roe Ethridge, Mary Heilmann, Adam McEwen, Josephine Meckseper, Richard Phillips, Ugo Rondinone, Josh Smith, and Sara VanDerBeek.

Roe Ethridge, Oysters 2005/2012.

At a first glance, 'Oysters (2005)' (2012) appears to be a stock image of a plate of a half-dozen oysters, nestled in a bed of ice. The beauty of the image lures us in, invites viewers to indulge in the exquisiteness of the details - the fine veins in the oyster flesh, the luminosity of the chopped ice. Oysters have long been a standard feature of classic still life compositions (they have become "kitch-classical" subject matter, in Ethridge's words), and maintain an allusion to luxury or to a certain kind of lifestyle. But closer inspection of this photograph reveals off-key notes: the fork is worn down and the table is a bit scruffy. The oysters themselves are imperfect as well, slightly small and cloudy. In fact, they are seeding, "not the best time to eat an oyster" as the artist comments.

Medium: Digital c-print
Size: 40.5 x 51 cm (16 x 20 in)
Edition of 125
Accompanied by a numbered certificate signed by the artist
Price: $900

Mary Heilmann, Autumn Wave, 2013.

With its popping palette of avocado and carrot, swimming-pool blue, fruity stains and psychedelic day-glo, this abstract composition of jaunty polygonal shapes rendered in exuberant brushstrokes spilling over their tarry black outlines, 'Autumn Wave' (2013) brims with all the directness and unabashed joie de vivre of the artist's best work.

Medium: 15 colour screen print on Rives BFK
Size: 62 x 43 cm (24.5 x 17 in)
Edition of 175
Signed, numbered and dated by the artist on the front
Price: $1,200

Adam McEwen, Chocolate Bar, 2013.

Adam McEwen has been making sculptures out of graphite since 2009. He selects unassuming, almost banal objects which he transforms, like a Graphite King Midas, from their natural state into the softly lustrous dove grey industrial material. Yoga mats, water fountains, ATMs, mirrors and lightbulbs have all been turned to graphite under his fingertips, but the selection of a chocolate bar for his Counter Editions multiple is a curiously apt choice of subject matter. In this case the graphite behaves not entirely unlike an actual chocolate bar would: its surface is seductive and invites a human touch, but leaves behind a tell-tale smear on any surface - tables, plinths, and guilty fingers. Chunky and oddly inviting, McEwen's 'Chocolate Bar' is undeniably an item to be coveted and enjoyed with gleeful indulgence.

Medium: Graphite
Size: 1.4 x 10.2 x 18.6 cm (0.54 x 4 x 7.3 in)
Edition of 45
Accompanied by a numbered certificate signed by the artist
Price: $4,500

Josephine Meckseper, Untitled, 2012.

Josephine Meckseper's 'Untitled' (2012) is comprised of several sheets of paper swept with expansive brushstrokes, interlaid with two crumpled american flags, a crushed Pepsi can, and several layers of a multi-coloured, reflective material similar to Mylar. This discordant collage, with its disparate elements intercepting each other at harsh angles, creates a shallow depth of field and seems to force the image outwards into the viewer's plane. It is a surprisingly aggressive image, oblique but forceful. The contrast of shapes and textures - glossy and slick, rough and lush, metallic and harsh, are visually sumptuous and, like all of Meckseper's collages and vitrine sculptures, the work seeks to challenge ingrained perspectives. Stating that she wants to "bring out the paradoxes inherent in manic consumption" Meckseper describes the significance of the objects she includes in her vitrines and collages is that they are easily exchangeable. "This is a key to the work - the objects are mere signs of capitalism. The reason for their existence is in anticipation of their own destruction. They are meant to trigger a resemblance to the way store windows appear just before they are smashed by demonstrators. They represent targets for potential violence."

Medium: Inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Photo rag 308 gsm
Size: 71.5 x 51 cm (28 x 20 in)
Edition of 100
Accompanied by a numbered certificate signed by the artist
Price: $900

Richard Phillips, Lindsay II, 2013.

With her serene expression, softly tumbling blonde hair, long lashes and perfectly even golden tan, Richard Phillips's iconic image 'Lindsay II' presents an impossible image of female beauty. This is not a figure of speech, 'Lindsay II' is indeed an impossible image: though it has been re-presented in several iterations (it is best known in the eponymous large-scale oil painting), the imagery was generated from an earlier film 'Lindsay Lohan' (2011). This particular image has always existed only as a digital composite, compiled from several different stills taken from the film. The film, shot at an infinity pool in Malibu, California, was considered a "motion portrait" of the actress that, the artist says, "at once reveals an emotional awareness of her recent past and, in the most positive terms, expressed the limitless creative potential of her art joined with her unparalleled beauty."

Medium: 25 colour screen print on 410 gsm Somerset Tub-sized
Size: 49 x 80 cm (19 x 31.5 in)
Edition of 150
Accompanied by a numbered certificate signed by the artist
Price: $1,200

Ugo Rondinone, Blue blue blue clock, 2012.

Ugo Rondinone's 'blue blue blue clock' is part of the artist's series of sculptures collectively called 'clockworks without arms': it is a stained glass clock face with no hands or numbers, made of panels of alternating ultramarine and robin's egg blue cathedral glass, framed in lead. The sculpture suggests our consciousness of time: a clock deprived of hands and numbers seems to be denied its function. The work acts as a reminder that the units of time conceived by humans, and which we use to order and dictate our lives, are ultimately arbitrary.

Medium: Lead and cathedral glass
Size: 31 cm in diameter (12 in)
Edition of 50
Accompanied by a numbered certificate signed by the artist
Price: $3,600

Josh Smith, Big Fish, 2013.

In the context of Smith's fish paintings, 'Big Fish' is an unusually detailed drawing - his paintings frequently condense fish down into the simplest possible combination of three or four brushstrokes. "You cannot paint it wrong," Smith has said. 'Big Fish' instead is beautifully executed with soft washes and delicate lines. The inspiration for this artwork came from the New York printing studio where 'Big Fish' was created - the studio's previous occupant had left behind a mounted fish on the wall, which, given Smith's predisposition to using fish in his work, became the obvious subject matter for his Counter Edisions print. Endlessly replicated by hand and by mechanised copy, the repetitive and vaguely generic quality of Josh Smith's work gains momentum as a collection of signifiers deprived of their significance.

Medium: Aquatint with spit bite and dry point on Hahnemuhle 300 gsm
Size: 56.5 x 78 cm (22.2 x 30.7 in)
Edition of 75
Signed, numbered and dated by the artist on the front
Price: $1,500.00

Sara Vanderbeek, Asymmetrical Alignment, 2012.

The minimal, geometric sculpture comprised of a stacked, recurring form and photographed atop a basic stool in Sara VanDerBeek's 'Asymmetrical Alignment' (2012) is covered in silver leaf. The structurally simple and elegant sculpture is completely overtaken by the complexity of the reflections of the natural light bounding, reflecting and refracting across its metallic surface. The streaming natural light washes out the upper corner of the sculpture, which seems to melt into the background, creating an almost M.C. Escher-like impression of an impossible construction which emanates a delicate luminosity.