Adam Cullen had an extraordinary ability to turn the familiar into something unsettling. His work is irreverent, darkly humorous and often brutally direct, probing mortality, masculinity, violence and the darker impulses of Australian life.

In Sell Out, Cullen reduces the human figure to its most universal symbol: the skull. Yet the image is deliberately small - roughly twice the size of a postage stamp - against a large expanse of paper. This disproportion gives the work its particular tension. The skull is at once stark and almost absurdly diminutive, a memento mori dwarfed by the space around it.

There is something wonderfully deadpan about Cullen’s treatment. The title Sell Out adds another layer of irony: a blunt commercial phrase attached to an image of mortality. The result is both darkly funny and genuinely contemplative; a reminder of the ultimate fate beneath the noise, ambition and transactions of everyday life.

Cullen’s etchings retain the rawness and psychological intensity of his paintings, but the pared-back nature of the medium can make their provocations even more potent. He was fascinated by the capacity of art to confront us with difficult or disturbing subjects while remaining compelling;  a tension that runs throughout his practice.

Editioned in a small and highly scarce edition, this impression is rare to market. Another impression of Sell Out is held in the National Gallery of Australia, adding important institutional recognition to this uncommon work.

A multi-time Archibald Prize finalist and winner, Cullen was the subject of a major retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2008 and remains one of the most distinctive voices in Australian contemporary art.

Sell Out is a wonderfully eccentric memento mori: sparse, sardonic and quietly macabre. An evocative work for a collector who appreciates Cullen at his most pared-back - and his wickedest.

Adam CULLEN (1965 - 2012)
'Sell Out' 2001
Etching on paper
Edition of 10
Image Size: 4 x 3 cm
Dimensions: 31 x 23 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:2007.1549.82
Condition: Excellent
(c) Adam Cullen / Copyright Agency