Adam Cullen

 

Adam Cullen was one of the most provocative and influential Australian contemporary painters of the 1990s and 2000s. He became famous for darkly comic, confrontational paintings that mixed pop culture, violence, Australian mythology, animals, masculinity, and crime into a rough, instantly recognisable style.

Born in Sydney in 1965, Adam was raised on Sydney's Northern Beaches. In the mid 1980s he attended the Sydney Art Institute where he raised eyebrows from early on, first gaining notoriety at art school for chaining a rotting pigs head to his ankle and dragging it around until it finally disintegrated.

Adding to his reputation as enfant terrible, Cullen went on to collaborate in the children's book “Hooky the Cripple” with the infamous convicted murderer and criminal, Mark 'Chopper' Read.

Already established as an artist of note, in 2000 he won the prestigious Archibald Prize for his portrait of Actor David Wenham.

Despite the chaotic appearance, Cullen was technically sophisticated and deeply informed by art history. He admired painters like Goya and Caravaggio.

In 2002 he represented Australia at the 25th Biennale de Sao Paulo, Iconografias Metropolitans.

A major survey exhibition was held in 2008, curated by the Art Gallery of NSW, cementing him as one of Australia's artistic treasures. 

Cullen also became notorious for his turbulent personal life and sadly passed away in 2012 at age 47 after serious health problems. 

ADAM CULLEN EXHIBITION (FEB - MARCH 2021)