Pic above from this article in the Sydney Morning Herald 1/12/2007.
Everybody who writes about Adam calls him "Bad Boy Adam Cullen" and reading the article in the Age today (which I can't find online) you certainly get a sense of why he is referenced in this way. The publicity generated by the resignation of a Blake prize judge earlier this year due the selection of Adam's entry adds more fuel to this description:
"It is understood that one of the Blake Prize judges, academic Christopher Allen, has resigned from the panel over his vehement objections to Sydney artist Adam Cullen's work. The triptych shows Christ on the cross with the inscription "only woman bleed", inspired by a line from an Alice Cooper song.
Cullen said he was contacted yesterday and told that Dr Allen had resigned in protest over the work's selection for the $20,000 prize."
Cullen's response:
"It's just a Jew on the cross"
"All the other entries would be of a Jew on two bits of wood. It's a very left-wing, almost pseudo- femme, artwork. How can he be offended?"
I haven't followed Adam's career closely (far from it) so had no idea what motivated the artist - his ideas, thoughts, inspiration etc. only that he won the Archibald for his portrait of actor David Wenham (in fact in total he has entered the prize at least 9 times and been hung at least 8 times), and the Blake prize saga, so I found myself totally immersed in this article and wanting it to go on forever. I'm hopping online shortly to search for more. It gives me a deeper understanding of his works, now more then ever I want one!
The portrait of David Wenham in 2000:
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2 comments:
I read that article too, and I can truly say I was so absolutely intrigued by Adam Cullen... I don't even have words to describe it.
Not being of a particularly arty background and generally not a huge fan of Australian artists, with Sidney Nolan and a few others being personal heroes but nothing really beyond that, this article basically brought me a whole new perspective on Australian art. Adam Cullen himself... I want one of his paintings as well, haha.
I don't really know what to say but I truly was intrigued by him and will certainly invest more time in looking into his life and his art in the future.
Glad you enjoyed it too!
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