In the side office of Anna Schwartz Gallery in Sydney, New Zealand artist Shane Cotton takes out a folio of test works for a huge mural titled “Square Head” (2015). The 400 x 400 cm wall painting is part of Cotton’s “Oblique Narratives” show which is at Anna Schwartz until April 4, 2015. On each of the A4 test works, Cotton has experimented with the placement of a number of hard-edged geometric shapes over the top of an image of a rather grim looking Maori shrunken head. Back in the gallery, Cotton’s chosen composition is repeated on the far wall of the cavernous gallery space.The works in “Oblique Narratives” emerged from Cotton’s interest in space, which he explores using the iconography of both modernist painting and his Maori heritage. “The whole show is about different types of spaces that bump into each other and what comes out of the rub,” Cotton says. And whether it be the combination of fluid, translucent watercolour heads with hard-edged geometric motifs or ethereal smoke with the shadow of a plant and a number of modernist-style abstract patterns, Cotton explains that the each of the works “change how the viewer perceives that space.”Cotton has used the shrunken head image as the inspiration for a number of works over the years. In the new works he says he has been looking at how the heads change through the process of painting. “What I realized,” he says, “is that as I was doing things to the head and changing them from the original source, a different kind of narrative emerged. And this is where the idea of the oblique narrative comes from. “But he adds that they’re not necessarily narratives that relate to the photograph specifically. “It’s about what happens to the images after I have processed them,” he says.Two of the most intriguing works in the exhibition are the large-scale murals. Cotton explains that he wanted to create an environment for the paintings. “In a sense the whole space becomes like a painting in terms of its composition and structure,” he says. At the end of the exhibition the murals will be painted over. But Cotton says that what he likes about the wall painting is that they have their moment and then they are gone. The only place they will continue to exist is in the spaces of the viewers’ memories, which is exactly where Cotton’s works resonate the most.If you think about it, human beings tend to develop opinions and ideas through what he see and how we process what we see. The imagery of a certain culture, for instance, has a strong impact on the way people understand and perceive the people, societal structure, and history of the particular culture. With “Oblique Narrative,” Cotton challenges his audience to reflect on how they frame and organize imagery within the space of their own consciousness and how this affects the way they interpret the world around them.Cotton’s creative process is highly intuitive and as such defies categorization or explanation. In fact he describes the works in the show as explorations, not conclusions, adding that he is trying to navigate the unknown. But although his works emerge from deep within his own consciousness, Cotton interprets his thoughts, ideas, and preoccupations in a way that is both accessible and engaging. Through his masterful command and understanding of composition and space, Cotton establishes his works as eloquent and poetic catalysts for discussion, debate, and meditation. Shane Cotton “Oblique Narratives” is at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Sydney until April 4, 2015Click the slideshow to see some of the works in the exhibitionFollow @ARTINFO_Aus
↧