Any excuse...

According to his hosts at the Gow Langsford Gallery, Shane Cotton's new exhibition is about 'the history of cultural exchanges between Maori and Pakeha'. I'm sure that's right, but the floating head motif running through Cotton's eerie new works has me thinking of John Borman's cult classic sci fi flick Zardoz as well as some of the more tragic periods of New Zealand history. Borman's three hour epic features Sean Connery dressed in a red jockstrap playing a character called Zog the Destroyer, and a gaint floating head which has always seemed, to me anyway, to resemble Karl Marx.

Here's one of Cotton's new paintings:



And here's Borman's floating head:



And here's Marx's granite likeness in Highgate Cemetery:



So is Shane Cotton a sci fi fan? And was Borman tilting at Marx when he made the strange film that has thrilled generations of pretentious undergraduates? Or am I just desperate for a chance to post a picture of Sean Connery as Zog the Destroyer? Go and see Cotton at the Gow Langsford and decide for yourself...