Contrasting Christian symbolism with Maori imagery, Shane Cotton seeks to draw parallels between the customs of his own iwi, Ngapuhi, and those of the European settlers, creating what he has referred to as a ˜bi-spirituality.In this work Shooter and Silvereye, the images, isolated in their irregular, cellular capsules, though seemingly disconnected, are grounded in Cotton's typical arsenal of iconography. Dividing the composition is a serpentine amalgamation of green and orange forms which invoke a distorted, camouflaged kowhaiwhai. A traditional koru symbol completes the partition. Hovering above, a waka is held within a crimson text bubble, while a shooter aims his gun in their direction, threatening to burst their bubble and send the canoe and its passengers hurtling through the black void. The position of the gunman in relation to the waka is not necessarily intentional, though it is ironic. The stance of the gunman is indicative of a clay pigeon shooter rather than of a soldier. This concept of shooting for sport, a classic British pastime, is an oblique reference to the impact of pakeha traditions in New Zealand. Across the partition, a native New Zealand bird, a silvereye, is coupled with mysterious indeterminate shapes and a stencilled white rose. The Maori text along the bottom reads: ˜He Tauhou Me Te Kai Pupuhi, Kei Roto Te Kari O Erene followed by the English translation of the title ˜Shooter and Silvereye. Cotton makes no attempt to definitively connect these scenes into a cohesive whole. They are akin to fragments an archaeologist would find on a site and require a similar effort in their interpretation. With endless possibilities, the painting can assume any number of meanings, reliant on the perspective of the viewer. In Cotton's works from this series, reminiscent of his early cellular works, images float in an other-worldly realm, simultaneously structured and deconstructed. Indeterminate and organic in structure, the paintings are like surrealistic dreamscapes, making even greater allowance for the workings of chance and the role of the subconscious not only in the viewer's determination of meaning but in the artist's actual construction of the image. With this combination of compelling colour and imagery, Shooter and Silvereye seems exempt from the concepts of time and space. Sarah McCrory