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EMMA WHEATON GLEANS INSIGHTS INTO THE LIFE OF ARCHIBALD PRIZE WINNER ADAM CULLEN AS THE AUSTRALIAN ART COMMUNITY MOURNS THE PASSING OF THIS CONFRONTATIONAL YET MAGNANIMOUS ARTIST.
As a young child, future Archibald Prize winner Adam Cullen was quiet, spoke with a stammer and expressed himself by playing the trumpet and painting. Following a long battle with
illness, the 47-year-old artist, who loved to explore Australian society in a startlingly honest way using his distinctively bold and bright painting style, died in his sleep at his home in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, on July 29, 2012.
"I knew from the day I met
Adam that he was an artist," says actor and artist Max Cullen, Adam's second cousin. Renowned for going against the
grain, Adam gained notoriety at his Sydney art school when he chained a rotting, stinking pig's head to his ankle, shocking his classmates and anyone with whom he came into contact, all in the name of art. Just as Adam's paintings could
be described as colourful, so could his life. "Adam painted the dark
strokes
side. He was brave, spent his life overcoming fear and reported to the viewer a message saying, 'Don't go there!' " says Max of how the late artist would like to be remembered. Adam grew up on Sydney's
northern beaches and graduated from the City Art Institute with a Diploma of Professional Art in 1987 and a Master of Fine Arts from The University of New South Wales in 1999.
"Just as Adam's paintings could be described as colourful, so could his life. 'Adam painted the dark side.' "
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