Counterfacture is a group exhibition of two and three dimensional works by four young British artists. These works subvert traditional process by using complex methods and materials to create sculptures and paintings that give illusory impressions of simple materials. These highly finished and process oriented works contrast the quotidian and basic materials, such as I-beams, paper, tape, and cardboard referenced in their forms. These artists explore the cognitive means through which we recognize reality, thereby focusing our attention on deciphering the process by which the works were created as well as their peripheral assumptions.

William Daniels’ oil on board paintings draw inspiration from historical works of art. Daniels’ begins his painting process by first constructing models of these famous paintings from paper materials such as cardboard boxes and masking tape, and then meticulously recreates them as highly detailed paintings.

David Musgrave explores both issues of representation and the complexities of formal process. His anthropomorphic forms are invariably created from an unseen original, and then translated into different media. Recent works involve depictions of common materials, such as scraps of paper rendered in painted aluminum sheet, which are modified and transformed by making their methods of construction explicit. The result is an unpredictable play between the actual and the fictional, recognition and estrangement.

Rupert Norfolk creates objects that oscillate between the appearance of functionality and aesthetics. His highly finished objects play with light and shadow, depth and dimension. One piece in this show, a dry stone wall, historically made from found rocks, is actually comprised of carved stones, each with a line of symmetry introduced so that the worked side mirrors the hollows, marks and protrusions naturally formed on the opposite side. In this way it is not immediately clear whether Norfolk’s objects are serviceable or illusory.

Alex Pollard’s sculptures and wall drawings look like quickly gathered assemblages of basic mark-making tools: articulated rulers, pencils, erasers and paintbrushes. In fact each of these figures and objects are cast plaster or bronze and hand painted by Pollard, who treats them as ready-made components of figures and landscapes.

This exhibition was organized in association with Marc Foxx.