Shane Cotton

Shane Cotton ONZM
Cotton in 2019
Born	Shane William Cotton (1965-10-03) 3 October 1965 (age 59) Upper Hutt, New Zealand
Alma mater	Ilam School of Fine Arts
Occupation	Artist

Shane William Cotton ONZM (born 3 October 1964) 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^[1] (his father a member of the Ngāpuhi iwi and his mother European). 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. He lives and works in Palmerston North.^[2][3][4][1]

Shane Cotton in his Palmerston North studio, 2011

Cotton was the recipient of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 1998.^[1] In 2008, he received a Laureate Award from the New Zealand Arts Foundation.^[1] 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.^[3][5][6][7]

Shane Cotton, Needlework. [1]

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.^[4] 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."^[8]

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^[9]
• 2008 Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award^[10]
• 1999 Te Tohu Mahi Hou a Te Waka Toi/Te Waka Toi Award for New Work^{[citation needed]}
• 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^{[citation needed]}
• 1989 Wilkins and Davies Young Artist of the Year ^{[citation needed]}
• 1986 Bickerton-Widdowson Memorial Scholarship^{[citation needed]}

Selected solo exhibitions

2014

• Baseland Christchurch City Gallery & Ilam Campus Gallery, Christchurch^[11]
• The Voyage Out, Rossi & Rossi Gallery, Hong Kong

2012

• Shane Cotton: the Hanging Sky, IMA Brisbane. Curated by Justin Paton the exhibition was developed by the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū in association with the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. The exhibition was shown at the IMA, Brisbane, the Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW and City Gallery Wellington.^[12][13][14]

• Smoking Gun, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne^[15]

2011

• Supersymmetry, Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland^[16]

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,^[17] Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch

2006

• Shane Cotton, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington
• Shane Cotton, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

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^[18]

2003

• Shane Cotton Survey 1993–2003, City Gallery Wellington^[19]
• 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

• Te Timatanga: From Eden to Ohaeawai, Dunedin Public Art Gallery^[20] Curated by Justin Paton.

1999

• New Painting, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
• Shane Cotton, Hocken Library Gallery, University of Otago, Dunedin^[21]
• New Paintings, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington. Also shown at the Mori Gallery, Sydney and Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1998

• Local, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington^[22]
• 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^[23] as an inspiration allowing him to created a conversation between colonial and post-colonial histories.^[24]
• 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

References

1. Borell N. Jackson M. Taiaroa T. & Auckland Art Gallery (2022). Toi tū toi ora : contemporary Māori art. Penguin Random House New Zealand in association with Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-14-377673-4.
2. "Nadene Milne Gallery - Art, Artists, Exhibitions, Christchurch, Arrowtown, New Zealand". Nadene Milne Gallery. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
3. "Artist Profile: Shane Cotton". Sherman Galleries. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
4. "Shane Cotton". Hamish McKay Gallery. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
5. "Shane Cotton". Creative Giants of Palmerston North. Palmerston North City Council. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
6. "St Joseph's Church". Studio Pacific Architecture. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
7. Hanfling, Edward (Winter 2015). "Painting the multiverse: Shane Cotton discusses the creation of pictorial words". Art New Zealand (154): 42–49 & 104.
8. Blundell, Kay (9 June 2012). "Artist 'humbled' to receive award". Stuff. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
9. "Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee honours list 2012". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 4 June 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
10. "Shane Cotton | Arts Foundation Laureate".
11. "Baseland". Retrieved 6 September 2024.
12. "Shane Cotton: The Hangiing Sky". Retrieved 6 September 2024.
13. Kent, Rachel (May–June 2013). "Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky". Artasisapacific (83).
14. "Behind the scenes: Hanging around". Retrieved 6 September 2024.
15. Hutchings, Patrick (November 2012). "Good Shot! Shane Cotton's Smoking Gun". Art Monthly (42).
16. "Shane Cotton Supersymmetry". Ocula. 16 May 2024. Archived from the original on 16 May 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
17. "Helgoland". Brooke Gifford Gallery. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
18. Leonard, Robert (2004). Shane Cotton. Auckland Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
19. Cotton, Shane; Strongman, Lara (2004). Shane Cotton. City Gallery Wellington. Wellington, N.Z: City Gallery Wellington in conjunction with Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-0-9582290-4-3.
20. Paton, Justin (2000). Te Tīmatanga: From Eden to Ohaeawai. Dunedin Public Art Gallery. ISBN 0908910193.
21. Shane Cotton. Dunedin: Hocken Library Gallery, University of Otago. 1998. ISBN 090204172X.
22. Leonard, Robert (1998). "Shane Cotton: Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington June 13-July". Art&Text (63).
23. "Rongopai". NZ History. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
24. Smith, Allan (1994). "Shane Cotton". Art & Text (49).

Further reading

• ‘Shane Cotton’ The Arts Foundation. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
• ‘Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky’ City Gallery Wellington. Resource Card. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
• 'Shane Cotton, The Hanging Sky' 2013. Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland. ISBN 9781877375255. Text by Eliot Weinberger, Justin Paton, Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow and Robert Leonard.
• ‘Artist Profile, Shane Cotton’ Conceptioart. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
• ‘Shane Cotton: Stamina, Surprise and Suspense’ Justin Paton, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, 1 December 2012. Transcript of an interview with Shane Cotton.
• ‘Story: Painting, Shane Cotton’ Te Ara. The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
• Daly-Peoples, John (20 July 2010). ‘Shane Cotton paintings examine the cultural landscape’. NBR Radio.
• McAloon, William (1999). home and away. Contemporary Australian and New Zealand Art from the Chartwell Collection. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Pg. 62.
• Strongman, Lara, ed. (2004). Shane Cotton. Victoria University Press.
• Trevelyn, Jill. ‘Shane Cotton’. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
• Tyler, L., ed. (1998). Shane Cotton. Hocken Library, Dunedin.

External links

• 'Shane of Ngapuhi'
• Artworks at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
• Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki: Works by Shane Cotton
• Cotton at the City Gallery Wellington
• Shane Cotton Victoria University of Wellington Press, 2004
• ‘Shane Cotton Survey 1993–2003’ Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Exhibition dates 29 May 2004 – 8 August 2004.
• ‘Shane Cotton: Baseland’ Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. Exhibition dates 7 June 2014 – 17 August 2014.