About

In this new body of work, Between Instinct and Reason, the artist continues to reflect on pop culture and a new American mythology. In Cotton’s world of sugary treats, pink unicorns, and hypermasculine cowboys, he is now introducing a new player: the mermaid.

In these monumental paintings, Cotton depicts glossy scenes of seductive sirens who are as beautiful as they are potentially dangerous. They tempt cowboys with baked goods and encircle them in oceanic whirlpools; they gaze like Narcissus into their own watery reflections and engage in serious discussion between one another. We observe …