Adam Cullen was born in Sydney in 1965, and worked at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains until his premature death in 2012. Cullen’s work often takes the form of satire and social allegory, encapsulating insightful yet confronting views of contemporary existence. His vibrant and boldly expressive paintings regularly have as their subject matter the darker aspects of the human condition, portraying them in a unique and provocative way. In 2000, Adam won the Archibald Prize for his portrait of David Wenham.

Cullen was associated with the Sydney grunge art scene of the early 1990s and became best known for his bold and challenging paintings. His work has been exhibited widely throughout Australia and internationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions. In 2002 he represented Australia at the São Paulo Biennial and in 2006 a major retrospective of his works on paper, Between the Lines: Works on Paper 1995–2005, was held at Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Sydney. A major survey exhibition of his work, Let’s Get Lost, was held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney in 2008 and was accompanied by a substantial catalogue. The monograph Adam Cullen: Scars Last Longer was published by Thames & Hudson in 2004.

Cullen’s work is held in collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Monash University, Melbourne; and Griffith University, Brisbane.