Concrete Playground

Trouble's brewing in Shane Cotton's Smashed Myth. In just over 40 square metres of canvas, Cotton (the renowned Maori artist of, most recently, Biennale of Sydney fame) has made a study in myth-busting that contemplates, among other things, colonisation, migration, resistance, religion and war. Preserved tattooed heads, rugged coastlines and biblical excerpts populate his paintings and as dark storm clouds collect, a sick sense of foreboding creeps up the walls at Anna Schwartz Gallery.

The mammoth artworks, which seem to rage out of their own skins, do well to fill the cavernous, and at times, dwarfing space. Despite the rage, there's a distinct sense of hope about Cotton's Smashed Myth paintings — perhaps it's the birds, frozen in space but visibly dipping and swaying; the furious, prophetic scribbling in red that moves in and out of focus, shifting and directing our attention; the preserved heads, shown from numerous angles, suggesting a 'study' of the subject and the potential for numerous perspectives and truths, or perhaps it's Cotton's masterful hand which deals as successfully with wispy linear drawings as it does with sweeping backgrounds. There's something alchemistic about these paintings and the artist himself, and to be in their sheer presence weighs heavy on you.

Image: Shane Cotton, Flat Light, 2010