Shane Cotton Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Shane Cotton Art Value Price Guide

Nov. 28, 2023
Shane Cotton (New Zealand, born 1964) Cargo 1, 2006
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
Shane Cotton (New Zealand, born 1964) Cargo 1, 2006 titled, initialled and dated lower right: 'CARGO 1 SWC 06' titled, signed and dated verso: 'CARGO 1' / Shane Cotton 2006 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 180.0 x 160.0cm (70 7/8 x 63in).
Bonhams
May. 11, 2022
Shane Cotton (New Zealand, born 1964) T-Bird, 2004
Est: $800 - $1,200
Shane Cotton (New Zealand, born 1964) T-Bird, 2004 silver gelatin photograph 37.0 x 25.0cm (14 9/16 x 9 13/16in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Mar. 08, 2022
SHANE COTTON, ROLLING MOON AND SOMEWHERE BEAUTIFUL, 2013
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
SHANE COTTON New Zealand, born 1964 ROLLING MOON AND SOMEWHERE BEAUTIFUL, 2013 two colour screenprints with synthetic polymer paint and unique additions on Arches paper 50.5 x 50.5 cm (each) 75.0 x 74.0 cm (each, frame) edition of 150 i) ROLLING MOON signed, dated and inscribed with title lower right: “ROLLING MOON” / S W Cotton 2013 ii) SOMEWHERE BEAUTIFUL signed and dated lower right: S W Cotton 2013 signed with artist’s monogram lower right PROVENANCE Conceptio Unlimited Limited, Hong Kong Shannon Bennett, Melbourne, acquired from the above RELATED WORK Other examples of these prints are held in the collections of the He Tohu (National Library), Wellington and Te Puna o Waiwhetū (Christchurch Art Gallery), Christchurch This item is located at our Melbourne gallery
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 01, 2022
Shane Cotton (Né en 1964) Kei muri nga mea i te ra / Things behind the sun
Est: €90,000 - €120,000
Shane Cotton (Né en 1964) Kei muri nga mea i te ra / Things behind the sun / Dans Les Coulisses Du Soleil "signé, titré et daté '''DANS LES COULISSES DU SOLEIL'' S. COTTON 2021' (en bas à droite); titré…
Christie's
Mar. 01, 2022
Shane Cotton (Né en 1964) Kei muri nga mea i te ra II / Things behind the s
Est: €90,000 - €120,000
Shane Cotton (Né en 1964) Kei muri nga mea i te ra II / Things behind the sun II / Dans Les Coulisses Du Soleil II "signé et daté 'S. COTTON 2021' (en bas à droite); titré ''DANS LES COULISSES DU SOLEIL…
Christie's
Aug. 09, 2021
SHANE COTTON Kawakawa Pattern
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
Shane Cotton Kawakawa Pattern 2003 acrylic on canvas signed S COTTON, dated 2003 and inscribed 'KAWAKAWA PATTERN' in brushpoint lower right 715 x 1065mm PROVENANCE Private collection, Auckland.
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Aug. 09, 2021
SHANE COTTON Whakakitenga II
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
Shane Cotton Whakakitenga II 1998 oil on canvas signed SWC, dated 1998 in brushpoint lower right; and inscribed WHAKAKITENGA in brushpoint upper left 495 x 600mm PROVENANCE Private collection, Auckland. Acquired from Fine Paintings, Jewellery & Decorative Arts, Webb's, Auckland, 5 December 2006.
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Aug. 09, 2021
SHANE COTTON Veil
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
Shane Cotton Veil 2008 acrylic on linen siged S.Cotton, dated 2008 and incribed Veil in brushpoint lower right 1400 x 1000mm PROVENANCE Private collection, Tauranga. Acquired from Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington. EXHIBITIONS Shane Cotton: New Painting, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, 23 August - 13 September 2008. Shane Cotton – Veil Essay by ANDREW PAUL WOOD Shane Cotton (NgÄti Rangi, NgÄti Hine, Te Uri Taniwha, NgÄpuhi) produced Veil in 2008, the year he was awarded an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award and the Seppelt Contemporary Art Award from Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art. Painted after a Sydney artist residency, Cotton first showed paintings from this series with the Gow Langsford Gallery at the Melbourne Art Fair. He continued to produce this series for an exhibition with the Hamish McKay Gallery in which this painting was first shown. The veil in the title is that between this world and the spiritual world, between the past and the present-future. It is a surreal work, minimalist by Cotton’s standards. It suggests the existence of its own syntax, begging for interpretation but simultaneously defying it. The themes that occupy Cotton’s work are biculturalism, the complex and nuanced way MÄori and PÄkehÄ histories intertwine, and the culture, politics and national identity that have evolved out of them. The painting has all of the other-worldly gravity-free weightlessness and crystalline stillness familiar in Cotton’s mature work. A great, jagged mountain seems to hover in a white void. It is blue like tÄ moko. In its flank is a cave – perhaps a burial cave where MÄori traditionally buried the dead. This chimes with the ancestral Toi Moko, harbingers of death, and emissaries from the beyond. Cotton is a leading figure in a generation of MÄori artists that emerged in the cultural upheaval and rise of identity politics in late 1980s and 1990s that included such luminaries as Michael ParekÅwhai, Lisa Reihana and Peter Robinson, exploring the complexities of postcolonial biculturalism by drawing on MÄori cultural concepts and PÄkehÄ artistic traditions. It represents a whole new chapter in the long tradition of history painting. The “MÄori Gothic” style Cotton is known for is cousin to the Italian Pittura Metafisica school of Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carla — naturalistic and detailed counterpointed by unexpected juxtapositions to evoke a visionary world of the imagination beyond physical reality. From that realm the MÄori gods and powerful dead speak out across time and space in a contem-porary vocabulary, through generations of colonial trauma and suffering, prophesying an ambiguous, but dramatically different future. One of New Zealand’s most important living MÄori artists, Cotton is highly sought after by private and public collections here and in Australia. He is represented in Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o TÄmaki, the Chartwell Collection, the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, and Queensland Art Gallery. He was awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 1998, represented New Zealand in the 2005 Prague Biennale and 17th Biennale of Sydney in 2010. In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours Cotton was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In 2012 and 2013 he was the subject of a major survey exhibition The Hanging Sky, which toured Brisbane, Sydney, Christchurch, and Wellington, and in 2015 he was commissioned by the Australian National War Memorial to produce a print in commemoration of the Anzac Centenary.
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Aug. 09, 2021
SHANE COTTON untitled
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
Shane Cotton untitled acrylic on canvas 200 x 200mm PROVENANCE Private collection, Wellington. Acquired from Hamish McKay, Wellington, 1998.
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Nov. 23, 2020
SHANE COTTON Proverbs
Est: $60,000 - $80,000
Shane Cotton Proverbs 2009 acrylic on linen signed S.Cotton, dated 2009 and inscribed Proverbs in brushpoint lower right 2000 x 1500mm PROVENANCE Private collection, Wellington. Acquired from Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington, 2009. EXHIBITIONS Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi, Wellington, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, 2013. LITERATURE Justin Paton, Elliott Weinberger, Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow and Robert Leonard, Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky (Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, 2013), 93.
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Jul. 15, 2020
SHANE COTTON , LOOKOUT #1, 2007
Est: $80,000 - $120,000
THE GENE & BRIAN SHERMAN CAPSULE COLLECTION V SHANE COTTON born 1964, New Zealand LOOKOUT #1, 2007 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 200.0 x 300.0 cm signed, dated and inscribed with title lower left: LOOKOUT 1 S. COTTON. 2007 signed, dated and inscribed with title verso: “LOOKOUT 1” / Shane L Cotton / 2007 PROVENANCE Sherman Galleries, Sydney (stamped verso) Gene and Brian Sherman Collection, Sydney EXHIBITED Shane Cotton, Red Shift, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, 28 June – 14 July 2007, cat. 6 Shane Cotton, The Hanging Sky, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand, 15 June – 6 October 2012; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 8 December 2012 – 2 March 2013; Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, 23 March – 19 May 2013 LITERATURE Paton, J., (et al.) Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2013, pp. 24 – 25 (illus.) Paton, J., ‘In the Air: Shane Cotton’s Recent Paintings’, Shane Cotton To and Fro, exhibition catalogue, Rossi and Rossi, London, 2010, p. 11 RELATED WORK Red Shift, 2006 – 07, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 190.0 x 300.0 cm, in the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane Takarangi, 2007, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 190.0 x 300.0 cm, in the collection of the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch ESSAY ‘Stepping up to the painting, I found myself on the edge of a blue-black void, a space whose colours suggested some time before or beyond day or night’. Shane Cotton is undoubtedly one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists, drawing on a wealth of art historical references, from Colin McCahon to René Magritte. Strongly informed by and actively informing contemporary post-colonial discourse, Cotton mines his own mixed cultural heritage (both Māori and Pākehā) to create an artistic language that resonates with audiences around the world. Lookout #1, 2007 is a key work from Cotton’s acclaimed series of vertiginous skyscapes. Spectators are plunged into an otherworldly void inhabited solely by feathered emissaries, birds who remain curiously suspended in a liminal space where gravity holds no purchase. Infused with the gothic tension of a brooding storm, whose origins and effects remain unknown, Lookout #1 displays a dichotomy between the promontory referred to in its title and carefully rendered in the lower right-hand corner, and the disorienting obscurity that dominates the rest of the painting’s vast plane. The void presents a metaphor of suspense and potential – an unknown point of departure for both artist and viewer. Cotton is propelled by a desire to streamline and synthesise his visual syntax and works from this series are remarkably minimal. Depicting a disorienting and illogical moment between day and night and a view with no clear vanishing point, they mark a progression from his early landscape paintings. Formerly defined by their clear horizon lines, Cotton’s landscapes now were redirected to vast celestial vaults, illuminated by neither the moon nor the sun. Looking away from the carved-up and disputed land underfoot also gave Cotton an opportunity to move away from the prevailing culture politics in New Zealand, which overdetermined readings of his landscape works. The unconquered skies provided a more inclusive space, uncertain and syncretic. In Māori cosmology, the Hanging Sky describes a sky draped down to meet the edge of the earth through which spiritual voyagers can pass.1 With wings outstretched and flattened into improbable shapes, Cotton’s brightly coloured birds appear to be buffeted by gale force winds, thrown perilously close to the cliff face. The artist himself describes the scene as ‘the birds were stopped and it was the mountains that were moving, or, in terms of the way the marks were flowing, had the potential to move’.2 Often carrying symbolic or devotional meaning in paintings, the birds in Cotton’s syncretic metaphysical space remain ambiguous. The sense of the uncanny is heightened by the discordance between a naturalistic painted cliff, magnified in the foreground, and the birds rendered in light graphic lines, delicately applied to the painted surface like a decal. This post-modernist free-association and appropriation of images, symbols and text would proliferate in Cotton’s later works, bizarre flights of fancy suspended in space, untethered to any point of reference. Art historians identify this tendency as a surrealist technique, indeed Robert Leonard qualifies Cotton’s approach as ‘speculative cultural surrealist’.3 Exhibited alongside its related works in the acclaimed retrospective exhibition, The Hanging Sky, at Christchurch Art Gallery, Lookout #1 is an imposing and major work of Cotton’s oeuvre, lyrically exploring the physical and metaphysical limits of a culturally specific narrative. 1. Paton, J., (et al.), Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, 2013, p. 42 2. Paton, J., ‘Shane Cotton. Stamina, Surprise and Suspense’, Bulletin Magazine, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, Issue 170, December 2012 3. Leonard, R., ‘The Treachery of Images’, in Paton, J., (et al.), op cit., p. 136 LUCIE REEVES-SMITH
Deutscher and Hackett
Jun. 30, 2020
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964), Kikorangi
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964), Kikorangi, Lithograph, edition of 40,, Signed, inscribed Kikorangi & dated 2004, 56 x 76
International Art Centre
Jun. 30, 2020
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964), Untitled
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964), Untitled, Mixed media on 24 wooden panels, Signed & dated 1991 - 92 verso, 244 x 15
International Art Centre
Jun. 02, 2020
SHANE COTTON - Moerewa
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
SHANE COTTON (New Zealand b. 1964) Moerewa Lithograph, edition of 40, 56 x 76 Signed, inscribed Moerewa & dated 2004
International Art Centre
Jun. 02, 2020
SHANE COTTON - Pararaiha
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
SHANE COTTON (New Zealand b. 1964) Pararaiha Lithograph, edition of 40, 56 x 76 Signed, inscribed Pararaiha & dated 2004
International Art Centre
May. 01, 2020
SHANE COTTON, (New Zealand b. 1964), Pararaiha
Est: $800 - $1,200
SHANE COTTON, (New Zealand b. 1964), Pararaiha, Lithograph, edition 10/40,, Signed, inscribed & dated 2004
International Art Centre
Nov. 27, 2019
SHANE COTTON, born 1964, New Zealand, SMASHED MYTH STUDY, 2010, synthetic polymer paint on paper
Est: $5,000 - $8,000
SHANE COTTON born 1964, New Zealand SMASHED MYTH STUDY, 2010 synthetic polymer paint on paper SIGNED: signed, dated and inscribed with title lower right: ‘SMASHED MYTH STUDY’ Shane Cotton 2010 DIMENSIONS: 77.0 x 56.5 cm PROVENANCE: Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne The Mainland Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in September 2010 EXHIBITED: Smashed myth, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney, 21 August – 25 September 2010 Shane Cotton lives and works in Palmerston North, New Zealand SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2017 – 2018 Black Hole, Kronenberg Wright, Sydney, and Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne 2016 Exploded Worlds, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand 2016 Dirt Cache, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand 2014 Baseland, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand 2012 – 13 The Hanging Sky, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Campelltown Arts Centre, New South Wales; and City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand 2012 WHAKAWHITI ARIA: TRANSMISSION, Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History, Palmerston North, New Zealand 2010 17th Biennale of Sydney: The Beauty of Distance, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2009 Art in the Contemporary Pacific,Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan 2007 Turbulence: the 3rd Auckland Triennial, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamāki, Auckland, New Zealand 2005 Expanded, The Prague Biennale 2, Karlin Hall, Prague, Czech Republic 2004 Paradise Now? Contemporary Art from the Pacific, Asia Society Museum, New York, USA 2004 Shane Cotton Survey 1993-2003, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamāki, Auckland, New Zealand, and City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand SELECTED LITERATURE Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky, exhibition catalogue, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2013 French, B., Shane Cotton: The Extended Art of Looking, Gow Langsford Gallery and Creative New Zealand Publishing, 2008. Strongman, L. (ed.), Shane Cotton, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand and Victoria University Press, 2004 Tyler, L., Shane Cotton, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1998 SELECTED COLLECTIONS Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamāki, Auckland, New Zealand Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, New Zealand Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand National Gallery of Australia, Canberra National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand Wellington City Council, Wellington, New Zealand REPRESENTED BY Hamish McKay, Wellington Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland ROSSIROSSI, London and Hong Kong
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 27, 2019
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964) - Untitled
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964) Untitled Acrylic on paper Signed and dated 2014 21 x 15cm
International Art Centre
Nov. 27, 2019
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964) - Untitled
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964) Untitled Acrylic on paper Signed and dated 2014 21 x 15cm
International Art Centre
Nov. 27, 2019
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964) - Untitled
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964) Untitled Acrylic on paper Signed and dated 2014 21 x 15cm
International Art Centre
Nov. 27, 2019
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964) - Untitled
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
SHANE COTTON (b. 1964) Untitled Acrylic on paper Signed and dated 2014 21 x 15cm
International Art Centre
Nov. 20, 2019
SHANE COTTON born 1964 Self-Portrait 2005 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 180.3 x 160 cm
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
SHANE COTTON born 1964 Self-Portrait 2005 synthetic polymer paint on canvas signed, dated and inscribed 'SELF-PORTRAIT. S.C. 05' lower right 180.3 x 160 cm PROVENANCE Sherman Galleries, Sydney Private Collection, Sydney EXHIBITED Shane Cotton: Pararaiha, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, 28 July - 20 August 2005 (label verso)
Smith & Singer
Nov. 21, 2018
Shane Cotton (New Zealander, b. 1964)
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
One Who Relates, Wonders, 1999, oil on canvas, titled, signed and dated verso 'One Who Relates, Wonders, Shane Cotton, 1999'
Shapiro Auctioneers
Jun. 13, 2018
SHANE COTTON , born 1964, New Zealand , OUTLOOK (WHITE), 2007 , synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
SHANE COTTON , born 1964, New Zealand , OUTLOOK (WHITE), 2007 , synthetic polymer paint on canvas SIGNED: signed, dated and inscribed with title lower right: OUTLOOK (WHITE) S. COTTON 2007 signed, dated and inscribed with title verso: OUTLOOK (WHITE) / Shane L. Cotton / 2007 DIMENSIONS: 180.0 x 160.0 cm PROVENANCE: Sherman Galleries, Sydney (stamped verso) Gene and Brian Sherman, Sydney EXHIBITED: Shane Cotton, Red Shift, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, 28 June 14 July 2007, cat. 7 Shane Cotton, The Hanging Sky, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, Christchurch, 15 June 6 October 2012; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 8 December 2012 2 March 2013; Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, 23 March 19 May 2013 LITERATURE: Paton, J., (et al.) Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2013 Shane Cotton lives and works in Palmerston North, New Zealand SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2017 Black Hole, Kronenberg Wright, Sydney and Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne 2016 Exploded Worlds, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand 2014 Baseland, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand 2012 The Hanging Sky, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane and touring 2012 WHAKAWHITI ARIA: TRANSMISSION, Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History, Palmerston North, New Zealand 2010 17th Biennale of Sydney: The Beauty of Distance, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2009 Art in the Contemporary Pacific, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan 2004 Shane Cotton Survey 1993-2003, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tam?ki; City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand SELECTED LITERATURE Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2013 Shane Cotton, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, 2004 Tyler, L., Shane Cotton, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1998 SELECTED COLLECTIONS Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tam?ki, Auckland, New Zealand Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, New Zealand Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand National Gallery of Australia, Canberra National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand Wellington City Council, Wellington, New Zealand REPRESENTED BY Hamish McKay, Wellington Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland ROSSIROSSI, London/Hong Kong
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 10, 2017
SHANE COTTON, born 1964, New Zealand, GALLERY FOREST, 2005, synthetic polymer paint on linen
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
SHANE COTTON, born 1964, New Zealand, GALLERY FOREST, 2005, synthetic polymer paint on linen SIGNED: signed with initials, dated and inscribed with title lower right: GALLERY FOREST SC ‘05 DIMENSIONS: 180.0 x 160.0 cm PROVENANCE: Sherman Galleries, Sydney (stamped verso) Gene and Brian Sherman collection, Sydney EXHIBITED: 2006 Contemporary Commonwealth, The Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 24 February – 25 June 2006 (label attached verso) ESSAY: Floating over deep ultramarine primordial waters, the bust of a Māori chief, resplendent with a full-faced moko (sacred Māori facial tattoos) occupies a central position in Shane Cotton’s allegorical painting, Gallery Forest, 2005. Surging forth from these opaque waters are also mountain ranges, slumbering volcanoes and ethereal wispy groups of cloud forms – the long white clouds of the artist’s native land, Aotearoa. Widely regarded as Colin McCahon’s successor, Shane Cotton is a leading figure within the field of contemporary art in New Zealand and further afield. Strongly informed by contemporary post-colonial discourse and his own subjective experience, Cotton draws on mixed cultural heritage to create an artistic language that resonates with contemporary New Zealander audiences. By including traditional Māori iconography in his paintings, Cotton visually records the increasing resurgence of toi moko (sacred tattooing) amongst his contemporaries, signalling a reconnection with indigenous heritage and its hierarchical systems. The chief in this painting is not an anonymous icon. He is the controversial chief and war leader of the Ngāpui people, Hongi Hika (c.1772 – 1820), from whom the artist is descended.1 Cotton has inserted this portrait in his artwork, appropriated from a sketch from 1820 by Major General G. Robely, copied from a painted portrait created during the chief’s trip to Sydney and London between 1819 and 1821. Known primarily for his strength of character and the appreciation he had for European settlers and their missionaries, Hongi Hika was and is a controversial figure in the history of New Zealand, instrumental in shaping the cultural landscape of the nation. Cotton’s sparse allegorical composition attempts to deconstruct the complex cultural legacies Hika left for himself and his compatriots, offering not answers but more avenues for questions. Gallery Forest was shown at Sherman Galleries in 2005, in an exhibition titled Pararaiha (meaning paradise), comprising of many large-scale canvases displaying the artist’s idiosyncratic aesthetic, slickly rendered with airbrushes rather than paintbrushes. Amongst the landscape paintings and op-art inspired target paintings, were four paintings featuring portraits of Hongi Hika. One of these paintings was based on his carved portrait held in the permanent collections of the University of Sydney Museums2, and later acquired by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Adorning Gallery Forest’s portrait of Hika are striking renditions of native and exotic birds, as well as individual letters of the alphabet, creating an overall effect that is enigmatic and diagrammatic. Painted in striking iridescent blue paint, Cotton’s images seem disparate, drawn from Christian iconography as well as ancient Māori scripture. The predominance of blue in the works of the Pararaiha exhibition reflect the Māori word for blue, kikorangi, which was used in indigenous translations of the Bible to refer to the heavens, etymologically constructed from the words flesh and sky.3 Creating syncretic syntax to serve as a symbol of hope for future generations, Cotton provides stimuli for future investigations of national identity, promoting the wealth of Māori heritage, as the title of his exhibition in 2005 proudly suggested. 1. Mason, N., Pararaiha, exhibition text, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, 2005 2. ‘AOTEAROA - NEW ZEALAND COLLECTION’, Sydney University Museums, viewed 11 April 2017 http://sydney.edu.au/museums/collections/aotearoa.shtml 3. Murray-Cree, L., ‘Shane Cotton. Identity and Transformation’, Art World, Issue 4, August – September 2008, p. 131 LUCIE REEVES-SMITH
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 19, 2014
SHANE COTTON (born 1964)
Est: $48,000 - $68,000
Outlook (Purple) 2007 synthetic polymer paint on canvas signed, dated and titled lower right: Outlook (Purple). S. Cotton. 2007 signed and titled verso 180 x 160cm PROVENANCE: Sherman Galleries, Sydney (stamped verso) Private collection, Sydney Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne 26/08/2009, lot 21 EXHIBITED: Shane Cotton: Red Shift, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, 28 June - 24 July 2007 Shane Cotton: The Hanging Sky, touring exhibition Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, New Zealand,in Association with the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane: City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand, 15 June-16 October 2012, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 8 December 2012-2 March 2013, Campelltown Arts Centre, NSW, 23 March-19 May 2013
Leonard Joel
May. 09, 2013
Shane Cotton
Est: -
Shane Cotton Whakakitenga III
International Art Centre
Feb. 26, 2013
Shane Cotton Broken Water title inscribed, signed
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
Shane Cotton Broken Water title inscribed, signed and dated 2008 560mm x 745mm
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Feb. 26, 2013
Shane Cotton Untitled signed and dated '92 300mm x
Est: $3,000 - $4,000
Shane Cotton Untitled signed and dated '92 300mm x 400mm
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Nov. 28, 2012
Shane Cotton Land of Names signed S.C., dated 20/2
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
Shane Cotton Land of Names signed S.C., dated 20/2 and inscribed Land of Names. Names of the People. Kotahi Te Ture mo Nga Iwi e Rua Maungapohatu in brushpoint; signed Shane Cotton, dated 2012 and inscribed "Land of Names...", Names of the People, Kotahi Te Ture mo Nga Iwi e Rua Maungapohatu. One law for both peoples. Maunga Pohatu. in ink verso 605mm x 375mm
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Nov. 28, 2012
Shane Cotton Veil signed S. Cotton, dated 2008 and
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
Shane Cotton Veil signed S. Cotton, dated 2008 and inscribed Veil in brushpoint lower right; Hamish McKay Gallery stamp applied to stretcher verso 1410mm x 1000mm
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Oct. 28, 2012
Shane Cotton Rangi Heke Tini, 1999 acrylic on
Est: $2,500 - $4,000
Shane Cotton Rangi Heke Tini, 1999 acrylic on canvas 20 x 20 cm
Mossgreen Auctions
Aug. 29, 2012
Art Work by Shane Cotton
Est: -
Art Work by Shane Cotton Hopa
International Art Centre
Aug. 29, 2012
Art Work by Shane Cotton
Est: -
Art Work by Shane Cotton Alpha/Omega
International Art Centre
Aug. 29, 2012
Art Work by Shane Cotton
Est: -
Art Work by Shane Cotton Middle North
International Art Centre
Aug. 29, 2012
Art Work by Shane Cotton
Est: -
Art Work by Shane Cotton Fiat Lux
International Art Centre
Mar. 27, 2012
Shane Cotton - Untitled
Est: $12,000 - $15,000
Shane Cotton Untitled signed S.W.C., dated '95 and inscribed 2. At 3 Atrium LIFT WALL 2 in brushpoint lower centre, signed Shane W. Cotton and dated '95 in pencil lower right 760mm x 460mm
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Mar. 27, 2012
Shane Cotton - Tu
Est: $4,000 - $8,000
Shane Cotton Tu signed S. Cotton, dated 2000 and inscribed TU in brushpoint lower right; signed S. W. Cotton, dated 2000 and inscribed TU in marker pen, lower edge verso 200mm x 200mm
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Aug. 09, 2011
Folding Space From the Blackout Movement Series
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
Shane Cotton Folding Space From the Blackout Movement Series acrylic on canvas title inscribed; signed and dated 2001 and inscribed Mamuku verso
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Aug. 09, 2011
Tuia
Est: $120,000 - $160,000
Shane Cotton Tuia acrylic on two stretched canvas panels signed and dated 2003
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Jun. 23, 2011
SHANE COTTON born 1964, New Zealand Self-Portrait
Est: $50,000 - $60,000
SHANE COTTON born 1964, New Zealand Self-Portrait 2005 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 179.5 x 160.0 cm signed, dated and inscribed lower right: SELF-PORTRAIT, S.C. '05
Menzies
May. 05, 2011
Art Work by Shane Cotton
Est: -
Shane Cotton " Te Kore: The Fact "
International Art Centre
Mar. 29, 2011
Shane Cotton
Est: $23,000 - $28,000
Shane Cotton, Folding Space Painting - From the Blackout Movement Series, title inscribed; signed and dated 2001 and inscribed Mamuku verso
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Mar. 29, 2011
Shane Cotton
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
Shane Cotton, Kawakawa Pattern, title inscribed, signed and dated 2003; title inscribed, signed and dated 2003 verso
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Mar. 29, 2011
Shane Cotton
Est: $45,000 - $65,000
Shane Cotton, Melanin Face, title inscribed, signed with artist's initials, dated 2005 and inscribed (Nga Karu); title inscribed, signed and dated 2005 verso
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Mar. 29, 2011
Shane Cotton
Est: $90,000 - $150,000
Shane Cotton, Which Art in Heaven, signed; title inscribed, signed and dated 1997 verso
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Nov. 30, 2010
Shane Cotton Ahika Blue Dream oil on canvas title
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
Shane Cotton Ahika Blue Dream oil on canvas title inscribed, signed with artist's initials SC and dated '04; title inscribed, signed and dated 2004 verso
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers
Nov. 30, 2010
Shane Cotton Kawakawa Pattern acrylic on canvas
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
Shane Cotton Kawakawa Pattern acrylic on canvas title inscribed, signed and dated 2003; title inscribed, signed and dated 2003 verso
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers