Shane William Cotton (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
Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city centre lies approximately 26 km north-e ...
with
Ngāpuhi
Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei.
According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 16 ...
iwi affiliations (his father a member of the Ngāpuhi iwi and his mother European). Cotton studied at the
Ilam School of Fine Arts
The Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury was founded in 1882 as the Canterbury College School of Art. The school became a full department of the university in the 1950s, and was the first department to move to the suburban Ila ...
in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
, 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
Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
, in the
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
visual arts programme until 2005 when he left to concentrate on his art practice full-time. He lives and works in Palmerston North.
[
Cotton was the recipient of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 1998. In 2008, he received a Laureate Award from the ]New Zealand Arts Foundation
'The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists.
The concept ...
. He was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...
, 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 The Prague Biennale is an international art exhibition in Prague, Czech Republic, held in alternate (odd-numbered) years. It was founded in 2003 by Helena Kontova and Giancarlo Politi. It is supported by the Czech Minister of Culture and the City ...
and his work was included in the 17th Biennale of Sydney
The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and ...
2010. In 2015 Cotton was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to make a print to commemorate the ANZAC
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood comm ...
Centenary. His work has been translated into a stained glass installation in St Joseph's Church, Mt Victoria, Wellington.mokomokai
Mokomokai, or Toi moko, are the preserved heads of Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, where the faces have been decorated by tā moko tattooing. They became valuable trade items during the Musket Wars of the early 19th century.
Moko
M ...
, and native birds such as tūī
The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a boisterous medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze colored with a distinctive white throat tuft. It is an endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the only spe ...
, and European symbols and items. His paintings have explored questions of colonialism, cultural identity, Māori spirituality, and life and death.
Awards
* 2012 Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...
, 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
* 2013 Shane Cotton: the Hanging Sky Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW & City Gallery Wellington & Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu
* 2012 Shane Cotton: the Hanging Sky, IMA Brisbane; Smoking Gun, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne
* 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,
References
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''. . 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
Artworks at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaAuckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki: Works by Shane Cotton
* ttp://www.aucklandartgallery.com/whats-on/events/2004/may/shane-cotton-survey-1993-2003 ‘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.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotton, Shane
1964 births
Living people
Massey University faculty
Modern painters
New Zealand painters
Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni
Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Ngāpuhi people
New Zealand Māori artists