Scandalising the art snobs when he walked away with the prestigious Archibald Prize in 2000 for his portrait of actor David Wenham, Adam Cullen has since been identified as one of Australia’s most collectable contemporary artists. He is top of the AGNSW Contemporary ’12 Hottest’ list, and has numerous solo exhibitions and a lengthy bibliography of art discourse behind him.

Cullen’s work provokes us and makes us wonder. He has an extraordinary sense of humour and pathos and plays a delicate balancing act between “punk brashness” and a relentless honesty, expressing his own grave doubts about himself and the world around him.

The content of his comic repertoire often revolves around issues of national and gendered identity – addressing racial intolerance, bigotry, sexism and political and social hypocrisies.

Cullen’s work displays a keen eye for abstraction and for more or less traditional painterly qualities. Stylistically, particularly in his graphics, Cullen borrows from popular graffiti and by doing so, questions the boundaries that traditionally separate art from life.

Sadly, Cullen passed away mid-2012 at age 47, after battling illness for a number of years.