Show and tell

In 1990 we saw an exhibition in Wellington by a couple of artists who’d go on to shake up NZ art. It was located in a kind of furniture, rugs and curios emporium called The Last Decade Gallery down on Wellington’s Thorndon Quay. The exhibition was titled Nature, Forms, Myth and the two artists were Shane Cotton and Peter Robinson. Cotton was showing his early abstract work and Robinson curious objects some of which looked as though they’d been through the fires of hell. It’s possible that this was the first dealer gallery show for each of them. Just a year out of art school in Christchurch and virtually unknown in Wellington, their exhibition was hugely memorable. Today we passed all that remains of the building where that impressive show was installed. 

Image: the lot that once held the Last Decade Gallery in Sar Street