Shane Cotton

Who is Shane Cotton?

Shane Cotton, ONZM is a major New Zealand painter. Born in Lower Hutt with Ngapuhi iwi affiliations, he studied at the Ilam School of Fine Arts in Christchurch, graduating in 1988. He then lectured at Massey University in Palmerston North.

Following this he was the recipient of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, and his work is highly sought after that. 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.

Cotton's work evocatively includes both Maori iconography and culture, such as shrunken heads, mokomokai, and native birds such as tui, and European symbols and items. His paintings have explored questions of colonialism, cultural identity, Maori spirituality, and life and death.

Many of his paintings go into depth of primitive ideas especially through Maori whakapapa.