Biography

Shane Cotton
Ngati Rangi, Ngati Hine, Te Uri Taniwha, Nga Puhi
b. 3rd October, 1964

Upper Hutt born with affiliations to the Nga Puhi and Ngati Hine of Taitokerau, Shane Cotton has emerged as a major presence in Contemporary New Zealand art. From his early distinctive sepia-toned ‘history’ paintings (1993) to his most recent Gothic ‘blue’ period (2006), Cotton has consistently redefined his style producing conceptually dense paintings that interrogate the dual heritage of New Zealand’s post-contact history.

The visual evolution of his works belies consistent themes of transformation, permanence, duality and synthesis. These ideas are articulated through the artist’s complex repository of iconography accumulated and reinvented over the trajectory of his career. The arrangement of formal elements in the artist’s compositions, though oblique in some instances, is largely derived from the spatial/conceptual dynamics that exist within the architecture of the Maori meeting house. Cultivated by Cotton for over a decade, he has gradually refined these organisational principles to create visually sophisticated works of immense potency.

Education
1985-88 Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts, University of Canterbury
1989-90 Christs College Art Department - part time teaching
1991 Diploma in Teaching Christchurch College of Education
1992 Lincoln High School Art Department
1993-06 Lecturer, Te Putahi-a-Toi, Maori Visual Arts, Massey University

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2007 Recent Painting, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia
2006 Recent Painting, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Maori Gothic, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2005 Pararaiha, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia
2004 Shane Cotton Survey 1993 - 2003, Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand
Recent Painting, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2003 Recent Painting, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Shane Cotton: Survey 1993-2003, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Recent Paintings, SOFA Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
Recent Paintings, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
2002 Powder Garden, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Birds Eyes Views, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2001 Blackout Movement, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
New Paintings, Brooke-Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
2000 Te Timatanga; From Eden to Ohaeawai, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin; Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1999 Recent Paintings, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Recent Paintings, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia, New Zealand
Recent Paintings, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Recent Paintings, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
1998 Local, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Recent Paintings, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1997 Square Style, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Recent paintings, Brooke-Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
Tableau, Lesley Kreisler Gallery, Christchurch
1996 New Paintings, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
New Paintings, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1995 Shane Cotton Recent Paintings, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand; Darren Knight Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Te Ta Pahara, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
1994 New Works, Claybrook Gallery, Parnell, New Zealand
New Painting, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1993 Collections, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1992 Strata, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
1990 New Works, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand

Selected Group Exhibtions
2008 Dateline: Contemporary Art of the Pacific Islands, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
2007 Turbulence: The 3rd Auckland Triennial, Auckland, curated by Victoria Lynn
2006 nEUclear Reactions, Caja de Burgos Art Centre, Burgos, Spain
Contemporary Commonwealth, National Gallery of Victoria & The Australian Centre for Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia
Birds, Pataka Museum, Porirua, New Zealand
2005 nEUclear Reactions, International Biennale of Contemporary Art, National Gallery, Prague, curated by Paco Barragin
The Koru Club, Pataka Museum, Porirua, New Zealand
2004 Paradise Now? Contemporary Art from the Pacific, Asia Society Gallery, New York, U.S.A.
Melbourne Art Fair 2004, Gow Langsford Gallery stand 8, Melbourne, Australia
2003 Empathy: Beyond the Horizon, Artspace, Sydney, Australia
2002 The Koru and the Kowhaiwahi: The Contemporary Renaissance of Kowhaiwhai Painting, Pataka Museum of Arts and Culture, Porirua, New Zealand.
Taiawhio: Continuity and Change, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
2001 Home & Away: Chartwell Collection, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Taranaki Te Maunga, Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Still Life, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
Colin McCahon’s time for messages, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Leaping Boundaries, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Good Work, the Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin; Wellington City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Purangiaho (Seeing Clearly), Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Techno Maori, City Gallery, Wellington, Pataka Porirua Museum of Arts and Culture
Empathy: Beyond the Horizon, Institute of Contemporary Art, Helinski, Finland
2000 Melbourne Art Fair, c/- Gow Langsford Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Parihaka: The Art of Passive Resistance, City Gallery Wellington; Pataka Museum of Art and Culture, Porirua, New Zealand.
Eloquent Polarities: The Chartwell Collection- Recent Acquisitions, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Old Worlds/ New Worlds: Contemporary Art from Aotearoa New Zealand, Art Museum of Missoula, Missoula, Montana; Maui Arts & Cultural Centre, Hawaii, U.S.A
Canterbury Painting in the 1990’s, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
Darkness & Light: Looking at the Landscape, McClelland Art Gallery; Banalla Art Gallery; Ballarat Fine Art Gallery; Gellonng Art Gallery, Australia; Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1999 Wonderlands: views on life at the end of the century, at the end of the world, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Word, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Group Show, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Chicago Art Fair, Chicago, U.S.A.
Shane Cotton, Colin McCahon, Tony Fomison, Max Gimblett, Ace Gallery, New York, U.S.A.
The Raising of the Noxious, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Manufacturing Meaning: The Victoria University Art Collection in Context, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
Home & Away: Contemporary Australian and New Zealand Art from the Chartwell Collection, Auaklnd Art Gallery, Auckland, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth; Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton; City Gallery, Wellington, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
1998 Achromatic, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Skywriters and Earthmovers, McDougall Contemporary Art Annex, Christchurch, NZ
Wake Naima, Centre Culturel Tjibaou, New Caledonia
Takeaway Symbols, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
FISI, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Leap of Faith: Contemporary New Zealand Art, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Dream Collectors: One hundred years of New Zealand Art, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
Australian Contemporary Art Fair 6, Melbourne, Australia, c/- Gow Langsford Gallery
Seppelt Art Awards, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (Visual Arts winner)
1997 Catalogue Show, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Now Showing: Artists go to the movies, The Film Centre, Wellington
1996 Patua, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Seven New Zealand Artists, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Australian Contemporary Art Fair 5, Melbourne, Australia, c/- Gow Langsford Gallery
Into the Light: Maori Artists from the Collection, Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, New Zealand
1995 Stop Making Sense, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Ta Te Whenua with Robert Jahnke, Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, NZ
A Very Peculiar Practice, Recent Practices in New Zealand Painting, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Korurangi: New Maori Art, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
The Nervous System: Twelve artists explore images and identities in crisis, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth; City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1994 5 New Zealand Artists, DKW Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Te Puaroa, Shed 1, Wellington, New Zealand
Parallell Lines, Gordon Walters in Context, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland
Taking Stock, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui, New Zealand
Taiawhio, Page 90, Porirua, New Zealand
Localities of Desire, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
1993 Hamish McKay Opening Exhibition, Wellington, New Zealand
Te Hau A Tonga, Te Taumata Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Ground Swell, Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Xmas Show, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
Xmas Show, Claybrook Gallery, Parnell, New Zealand
1992 Te Kupenga, CSA Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, New Zealand
New Works with Peter Robinson, Claybrook Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Latent Realities, Robert McDougall Art Annex, Christchurch, New Zealand
Canvassing South, Gow Langsford Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Motif/ motive, CSA Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
Shadow of Style, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Prospect Canterbury, �� Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
1991 Kohia Ko Taiakaka Anake, National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Preparations: 25 Canterbury Artists, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, NZ
Recognitions, Robert McDougall Art Annex, Christchurch, New Zealand
He Toi Tutanga Na Ngaa Toa O Te Whare Waanaga O Waitaha, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Shane Cotton, Barnard McIntyre, Peter Robinson, Gow Langsford Gallery, Wellington
Christmas Show, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
1990 Nature Forms Myth with Peter Robinson Last Decade Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Christmas Show, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
1989 Wilkins and Davies Finalists Exhibitions CSA Gallery, ASA Gallery, Auckland, NZ
1987 Young Contemporaries, CSA Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand

Awards and Fellowships
1985 Bickerton - Widdowson Scholarship
1987 Seager Prize in Fine Arts
1988 Ethol Rose Overton Scholarship
Sawtell-Turner Prize in Painting
Irwin Allen Hunt Scholarship
1989 Wilkins and Davies Art Award Judges Prize
1991 Te Waka Toi Projects Grant
1998 Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, Dunedin, New Zealand
Seppelt Art Award, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
1998 Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, Artist in Residence, Hocken Library and Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
1999 Te Tohu Mahi Hou a Te Waka Toi : New Work Award

Commissions
1994 Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
1995 Sky Tower Casino, Auckland, New Zealand
2002 Auckland Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand
2005 Sky City Grand Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand

Selected Public and Private Collections
Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand
Avon Collection, Christchurch, New Zealand
Barr Collection, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
Chartwell Collection, Auckland, New Zealand
Clyde Collection, Christchurch, New Zealand
College House Collection, Christchurch, New Zealand
Fletcher Challenge Collection, Auckland, New Zealand
Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
University of Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington City Council, Wellington, New Zealand

Selected Biography
Barr J and Barr M, ‘Mana from History’, World Art 15, Spring 1997, pg 58 - 63
Barr J & M, ‘Shane Cotton’, Home and Away: Contemporary New Zealand Art from the Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery and David Bateman Ltd., 1999
Barton, Christina, ‘Return of the Dead’ in Maori Gothic: Shane Cotton, catalogue essay, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, 2006
Brown W, 100 New Zealand Paintings, Godwit Press, Auckland, New Zealand 1995
Burke, Gregory & Robert Leonard, Shadow of Style: Eight New Artists, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington & Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 1992
Caldwell, Elizabeth, ed., Skywriters & Earthmovers, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, 1998
Cree, Laura Murray (ed.), Twenty, Sherman Galleries 1986-2006, Craftsman House (Thames & Hudson), Melbourne, 2006
Dale, Richard, ‘Insider/outsider: A Report from the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery’, Art New Zealand, no.77, 1995
Daly, Sian, ‘Show Champion’, Monica, October/November, 1996
Daly-Peoples J, ‘Exhibitions/Auckland’, Art New Zealand, no.72,1994 p 38 Art New Zealand Magazine Press, Auckland, New Zealand
Daly Peoples J, The New McCahon?, National Business Review, 02/07/2004 p54, Auckland, New Zealand
Dunn, Michael, Contemporary Painting in New Zealand, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996
Eggleton, David, ‘History under canvas’, New Zealand Listener, 12 December, 1998
French B., ‘A Choreography of Form: The Paintings of Shane Cotton’, Art New Zealand, no. 60, 1991, Auckland, New Zealand
French, B., ‘Crossing the Tasman: The Work of Gordon Bennett and Shane Cotton’, Postwest, no.16, 2000
French, B., ‘Shane Cotton: Painting at the Heart of the Matter’, Seppelt Contemporary Art Awards, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 1998
Garrett, Louise, ‘Exhibitions:Wellington’, Art New Zealand, no.83, 1997
Goldsmith, Susette, ed., Te Maunga Taranaki: Views of a Mountain, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 2001
Green, Charles, ‘Shane Cotton’, Artforum, November, 1997
Hansen, J., Hot House, Metro, Review/The Arts, May 2004, p98-100, Auckland, New Zealand
Hohaia, Te Miringa, Gregory O’Brien & Lara Strongman, eds., Parihaka: The Art of Passive Resistance, City Gallery, Wellington, Victoria University Press & Parihaka Pa Trustees, Wellington, 2001
Hubbard, G., ‘Buy Culture’, p76, Planet, Issue 13, 1994
Kronenberg, Simeon & Ngahiraka Mason, Darkness & Light: Looking at the Landscape, McLelland Gallery, Langwarrin, Victoria, 2000
Leonard, R., McCormack J, ‘Something in the Pot’, Midwest 5, 1994, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Leonard, R., ‘Shane Cotton’, Art/Text, no.63, 1998
Mane-Wheoki, Jonathan, ‘Korurangi/Toihoukura: Brown Art in White Spaces’, Art New Zealand, no.78, 1996
Mason, Ngahiraka & Ngarino Ellis, Purangiaho: Seeing Clearly, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, 2001
Mason, Ngahiraka, ‘Shane Cotton’ in Ed Green (ed.), Contemporary Commonwealth 2006, Australian Centre for Moving Image & National Gallery of Victoria: Melbourne Australia, 2006
McAloon, W., ‘Amidst Seas & Skies: Casin Art in Auckland’, Art Asia Pacific, vol.3, no.4, Sydney, 1996
McAloon W, Burke G, Leonard R, Catalogue, Growing Cultures, Shadow of Style, Wellington City Art Gallery, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 1992
McAloon W, Making History: The Painting of Shane Cotton, Shane Cotton Catalogue
McAloon W, Stirring the Pot: Recent Paintings by Shane Cotton, Art New Zealand, 90, Autumn, 1999
McDonald, E., Square Style, exhibition catalogue, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 1997
Mason, N., Purangiaho Toku Mata, Purangiaho (Seeing Clearly) exhibition catalogue Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Murphy, B., Localities of Desire, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Neate, Robin & Stuart McKenzie, Now Showing: Artists go to the Movies, Exhibitour, Wellington, 1997
O’Brien, G., Lands and Deeds: Profiles of Contemporary New Zealand Painters, Godwit Press, Auckland, New Zealand, 1996
Paton, J., ‘Homing In’, Te Timatanga: from Eden to Ohaeawai, Exhibition Catalogue, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand, 2000
Paton, J., ‘Exhibitions: Christchurch’, Art New Zealand, no.76, 1995
Sayle, J., ‘Exhibitions:Wellington’, Art New Zealand 68,1993, p43-44
Shand, P., ‘Time spent in four chambers: A very peculiar practice’, Art New Zealand, no.77, 1995
Smith, A., ‘Shane Cotton’, Art & Text, no.49, 1994
Smith, A., et al., A very peculiar practice: Aspects of recent New Zealand Painting, City Gallery, Wellington, 1995
Smith, A., ‘The surfaces of style’, Art New Zealand, no.66, 1993
Smith, A., The Nervous System: Twelve Artists Explore Images and Identities in Crisis, Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth, 1995
Smith, S., Ta te whenua: Shane Cotton & Robert Jahnke, Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, 1995
Strongman, L., et als., Shane Cotton: Survey 1993-2003, City Gallery; Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2004
Strongman, L., The P(l)ot, 1994 exhibition supplement, Claybrook Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Strongman, L., ‘Something in the pot: Luke Strongman talks to artist Shane Cotton’, Midwest, no.5, 1994
Strongman, Lara, ‘Visions and Revisions: Recent Work by Shane Cotton’, Artlink, vol 26, no. 2, 2006
Swan, P., Shane Cotton Recent Painting, Exhibition Catalogue, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand, 1995
Thomas, N., Possessions: Indigenous Art/ Colonial Culture, London, Thames & Hudson, 1999
Tillers, I., Locating Shane Cotton Fine Arts, Art Asia & Pacific, Sydney, Australia, 1999
Tyler, L., (ed.), McAloon W, Brown D, Mane-Wheoki, J & Williams L, Catalogue, Shane Cotton, Hocken Library, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1999
Wedde, Ian, et al. Dream Collectors: One Hundred Years of Art in New Zealand, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 199