Shane Cotton


Shane William Cotton is a New Zealand painter whose work explores biculturalism, colonialism, cultural identity, Māori spirituality, and life and death.

Life

Cotton was born in Upper Hutt with Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Hine and Te Uri Taniwha iwi affiliations. Cotton studied at the Ilam School of Fine Arts in Christchurch, graduating in 1988 and then went on to gain a Diploma of Education from Christchurch College of Education. After finishing his studies he lectured at Massey University, Palmerston North, in the Māori visual arts programme until 2005 when he left to concentrate on his art practice full-time.
Cotton was the recipient of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 1998. In 2008, he received a Laureate Award from the New Zealand Arts Foundation. He was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the visual arts, in the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours. His work is highly sought after. He has received the Seppelt Contemporary Art Award from Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art, and has been exhibited at many leading galleries in Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Spain and Prague. He was the New Zealand representative in the 2005 Prague Biennale and his work was included in the 17th Biennale of Sydney 2010. In 2015 Cotton was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to make a print to commemorate the ANZAC Centenary. His work has been translated into a stained glass installation in St Joseph's Church, Mt Victoria, Wellington.
Image:shane cotton.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Shane Cotton, Needlework.
Cotton's work includes Māori iconography and culture, such as shrunken heads, mokomokai, and native birds such as tūī, and European symbols and items. His paintings have explored questions of colonialism, cultural identity, Māori spirituality, and life and death. Describing his practice, Cotton says, "Biculturalism, how our histories have been interwoven over time, things that have come out of that connection – culture, politics, societal living – have been the driving factors in my work."

Awards

  • 2012 Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the visual arts, in the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours
  • 2008 Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award
  • 1999 Te Tohu Mahi Hou a Te Waka Toi/Te Waka Toi Award for New Work
  • 1998 Ethel Rose Overton Scholarship; Sawtell-Turner Prize in Painting; Irwin Allen Hunt Scholarship; Frances Hodgkins Fellowship University of Otago, Dunedin; Seppelt Contemporary Art Award for visual arts, Museum of contemporary Art, Sydney.
  • 1991 Te Waka Toi Projects Grant
  • 1989 Wilkins and Davies Young Artist of the Year
  • 1986 Bickerton-Widdowson Memorial Scholarship

    Selected solo exhibitions

2014
  • Baseland Christchurch City Gallery & Ilam Campus Gallery, Christchurch
  • The Voyage Out, Rossi & Rossi Gallery, Hong Kong
2012
2011
  • Supersymmetry, Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland
2010
  • Smashed Myth, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney
  • New Work, Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland
  • To and Fro Rossi & Rossi Gallery, London
2008
  • Coloured Dirt, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington
2007
  • Shane Cotton, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
  • Red-Shift, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
  • Helgoland, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
2006
2005
  • Pararaiha, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
  • New Zealand representative in the Prague Biennale
2004
  • Shane Cotton Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. Curated by Robert Leonard the exhibition was based on the City Gallery Wellington survey exhibition Shane Cotton Survey 1993–2003
2003
  • Shane Cotton Survey 1993–2003, City Gallery Wellington
  • Shane Cotton: Recent Painting, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
  • Shane Cotton: Paintings, SOFA Gallery, School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury, Christchurch
  • Shane Cotton: New Paintings, Brooke-Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
2002
  • Powder Garden, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington
  • Birds Eyes Views, Mori Gallery, Sydney
2001
  • Blackout Movement, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
  • New Paintings, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
2000
1999
  • New Painting, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
  • Shane Cotton, Hocken Library Gallery, University of Otago, Dunedin
  • New Paintings, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington. Also shown at the Mori Gallery, Sydney and Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1998
  • Local, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington
  • Shane Cotton, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1997
  • New Painting, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
  • Square Style, Mori Gallery, Sydney
1996
  • New Painting, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
  • New Painting, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington
1995
  • Shane Cotton: Recent Paintings, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth
  • Te Ta Pahara, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch. As art writer Allan Smith noted in his review of the exhibition, Cotton used paintings on the walls of the Rongopai marae in Gisbourne as an inspiration allowing him to created a conversation between colonial and post-colonial histories.
  • Shane Cotton: Recent Paintings, Darren Knight Gallery, Melbourne
  • Ta Te Whenua, Manawatu Art Gallery Palmerston North
1994
  • New Works, Claybrook Gallery, Auckland
  • New Painting, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington
1993
  • Collections: New Work by Shane Cotton, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington
1992
  • Strata, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
1990
  • Nature Forms Myth, Last Decade Gallery, Wellington