Adam Cullen, painter and Archibald Prize winner, was born in Sydney in 1963. He studied Fine Arts and Professional Art Studies at the City Art Institute in Paddington, initially graduating in 1987. Later he returned as a research student when the former CAE joined the He University of New South Wales, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in 1999.
Despite his apparent conventional academic trajectory, Cullen was initially best known for his confrontational stunts and punkish ploys. In one performance he walked around for a week with a severed pig’s head chained to his ankle, during which time he was banned from public transport. His friend and fellow student, Andrew Frost, saw this as an indication of his long term obsession with decay and death.
His joy in challenging authority can be seen in his later collaboration with Mark 'Chopper’ Read on a children’s book entitled Hooky the Cripple . Cullen’s work approached difficult social issues with a light touch. Crime, masculinity and cowboy culture, were all exposed through a lens of humour. Formally, his paintings united high and low culture through the combination of bold, gestural brushstrokes and appropriated imagery.
Cullen exhibited both individually and in several group exhibitions both in Australia and overseas. In addition, Cullen has shown in prize shows including the Archibald Prize (Art Gallery of New South Wales), Blake Prize (National Art School Gallery), and the Salon Des Refuses (S.H. Ervin Gallery).
Cullen was the recipient of a number of distinguished prizes. In 2000 he won the Archibald Prize. In addition, he has also been a finalist in the Archibald, the Sulman and the Blake Prize. His work has been widely collected and is held by the Australian National Gallery as well as in numerous public and private collections, including the Tolarno Galleries, Kaliman Gallery, Heiser Gallery, and Greenaway Art Gallery. In 2002 Cullen represented Australia at the 25th Bienal de Sao Paulo. He suffered for many years from ill health, which was exacerbated by a life style characterised by drugs and heavy drinking. At the time of his death he was a diabetic, and had his pancreas removed and was heavily medicated, not for pleasure but for survival.
Andrew Frost wrote 'Adam has left us his legacy: the good, the bad and the ugly, the funny, the insightful and glacial glistening of truth, the dancing black line, the splat of curdled enamel on the infinity of a single colour acrylic. It wasn’t conceptual he always said, it was optical. Just look and you will see.’
- Writers:
- Chalk Horse Gallery
- Date written:
- 2010
- Last updated:
- 2018
