Adam John Cullen: Ghost

Adam John Cullen: ghost reflects the Melbourne-based artist's interest in the histories of found and personal objects. Cullen's installation-based practice employs an archaeological methodology, exploring themes of commodity and exchange and the ways in which objects and materials might transform over time. Aspects of personal memory, culture, history, and economic and political relations are often revealed in Cullen’s work through ephemera and personal objects (including those of family and friends) that he has accumulated over time and that constantly appear and re-appear throughout his works. 

ghost comprises works made by Cullen, while undertaking residencies nationally and internationally over the past year, alongside work reflecting on those experiences. The materials used represent moments, places and personal histories of friends, peers, grandparents and the artist himself. As Cullen notes:

 I don’t believe in ghosts – but I’ve seen a few. Over the past short while I’ve been haunted by people (dead and alive), by objects and artworks…but mostly by myself. While undertaking a residency in Taipei, isolation got the better of me, so I left, escaping to a prison island. In Hill End, I was sharing a cottage with someone I never saw, but I did see a man drink a pint of his own blood.

I don’t believe in ghosts – but I’ve seen a few. Over the past short while I’ve been haunted by people (dead and alive), by objects and artworks…but mostly by myself. While undertaking a residency in Taipei, isolation got the better of me, so I left,

Rubble (wall), 2019 includes personal materials and objects gifted to the artist by Darcey Bella Arnold, Brooke Babington, Boe-lin Bastian, Jessie Boylan, Sophie Brown, Ellie Chalmers-Robinson, Renee Cosgrave, Christo Crocker, Zoey Dawson, Ryan Hancock, Christopher L.G Hill, Tamsen Hopkinson, Rebecca Joseph, Neika Lehman, Anna McCarthy, David Mutch, Shae Nagorcka, Noriko Nakamura, Grant Nimmo, Henry Tan, Amelia Winata and Kalinda Vary.