Adam Cullen turned some of Australia's most enduring cultural archetypes into images that are confronting, irreverent and impossible to ignore. A self-described enfant terrible, he burst onto the Australian art scene with a punk gesture: chaining a pig's head to his ankle for two weeks. The provocation was typical of an artist whose work relentlessly interrogated masculinity, violence, crime and the darker impulses of Australian life.

In Clone, a man's face dissolves into loose, sporadic lines, his eyes reduced to hypnotic spirals. The plate around him is densely worked with tightly twisted scribbles, creating an unsettling tension between figuration and abstraction. The etching reflects Cullen's fascination with the grotesque and macabre, and his gift for pushing the familiar into something strange and disquieting.

This impression is number 7 from an edition of just ten, hand-signed by the artist. Another impression is held in the National Gallery of Australia, underscoring the work's significance within Cullen's printmaking practice.

Winner of the Archibald Prize in 2000 and a finalist on several other occasions, Cullen was the subject of a major retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2008. His work holds an important place in Australian contemporary art, distinguished by its punk sensibility, dark humour and fearless examination of national identity.

Clone is a compelling acquisition for collectors of Australian contemporary art, particularly those drawn to Cullen's uncompromising vision.

Adam CULLEN (1965 - 2012)
'Clone' 2001
Etching on paper
Edition of 10
Image Size: 6 x 5 cm
Dimensions: 23 x 19 cm
Signed: Editioned, titled, signed and dated in bottom margin.
Comes with Letter of Provenance
Another impression of this work is represented at the National Gallery of Australia, accession number:2007.1549.50
Condition: Excellent
(c) Adam Cullen / Copyright Agency