A few weekends back, as mentioned here, hubby and I had the chance to stay at the Cullen for a night, in celebration of our 4 year wedding anniversary. Being an avid colour and art lover, the only thing I like more than shopping is visiting art galleries and museums, I was so excited about our stay I had excitement exiting my ears. After being warmly welcomed by the achingly hip staff, we were escorted to our brightly-lit hotel room..and voila!
Outift: vintage Anthea Crawford dress , vintage necklace (from Oakleigh Market), vintage clutch (from Milan), vintage shoes and jade bracelet; Edenborough Evans Luna silver ring and Imperium bracelet
The next morning, I had the utmost pleasure of attending the Art Aficionado Tour with Jane O’Neil, the hotel’s art curator, a good friend of Adam Cullen, who understands and articulates his paintings so well that I felt like I was live inside his studio. Jane explained about Cullen’s background and his works.
Adam Cullen started the Grunge Art movement in Sydney and in 2000, became the winner of the prestigious Archibald Prize for his depiction of actor David Wenham. He was like Alexander McQueen, who was considered the ‘enfant terrible’ in London fashion, Cullen was the wild one in Australian art. He is Irish, and rumoured to be distantly-related to Ned Kelly so like the majority of Australians, he is on Team Ned. In the hotel, there are numerous paintings of the Kelly gang, of Ned, his horse, his friends, and the policemen who hunted them. I didn’t know about this, but Ned Kelly’s group often dressed in drag, one of his friends used to wear dresses to scout out the local bank. Cullen’s paintings of the men often show them in nighties, wearing lipstick and a quiff. There is only one painting of Ned Kelly in menswear, in his prison greens, a historical documentation of his last day before his sentenced hanging.
Adam Cullen was also fond of exploring the animalistic side of humans. During his art school days, he strapped a rotting pig’s head around his ankle for 2 weeks and took it everywhere he went. Everywhere. To bed, to the bus, to the bar, to push the physical boundaries of art and to demonstrate in a shocking way how humans treat animals. Many paintings of dogs (Growler), horses and even one of the endangered Tasmanian Devil (painted to raise funds to rescue our national fauna) stand in the hotel’s foyer. My personal favourite is his allegoric self-portrait of Phar-Lap. Just like the legendary racer, Cullen has rose to so much fame that he’s also become a ‘winning bet’ in the artistic circles and has to answer to increasing demands from the public.
For me, Cullen’s work not only evoke strong emotions and themes that are close to my heart, justice, human pain and suffering, our treatment towards animals…it is his ingenious amalgamation of colours that captivated my visual senses. Bold, loud and perfectly married, Cullen’s work is a delight to view and study, especially when I’m lying on the soft king size bed.
Thank you so much to Emma, Jess and Jane for organising our stay. We cannot wait to visit the Cullen again!
wow the paintings are amazing dear love it and your dress is so bright and fresh love it dear you got great style kisses
awesome pictures! i love the bag! the whole outfit is really cute!
x
shopstyleconquer.blogspot.com
shopstyleconquer.blogspot.com
shopstyleconquer.blogspot.com
That is a pretty cool hotel! :)
isn’t it? You should stay here if you ever visit Melbourne!
A fantastic introduction to The Cullen and Adam Cullen the artist. Will be at The Cullen to attend a “secret rooftop gig” featuring Jack Carty on Wednesday evening 30 November.
Yes I was invited to the event, only I will be in Singapore then :(
Nice clutch ! I also like the paintings.
Love the painting of the dog!
http://www.intotheblonde.com/
hehe yes Growler is so cute!
Looks fabulous..love your outfit, great colour on you :) x
You seem to encapsulate the feelings of the paintings perfectly with your words. What an interesting stay it would have been in a hotel where you are surrounded by what you love! (Art, and your husband of course). Hope the stay was as luxurious as the photos depict it to be – and happy 4 years for you and your husband, what a great milestone!
Anna xo
http://www.lifesshinyprettythings.blogspot.com/
You are so lovely! Thank you for your gracious words. We had a most gorgeous time. The Cullen was a joyous stay!
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Very cute dress :)
/ Avy
http://MyMotherFuckedMickJagger.blogspot.com
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Hello, I´m Mamen from Spain!!!
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Your bag is amazing! Love it!
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Very interesting & insightful blog about Cullen-the artist.
Will keep this on my list of places to stay in Melbourne.
Suzi x
Please check out my blog : http://suzimaynard.blogspot.com/
Lovely post!! This artist is great!!
haha. the pic of u having bag on head.. hilarious.. u have inspired me to take funny pics..
After my Red and Twinkle post I din.. now I will continue :D hehe.. U are so so so cutee..
can u temme hw did u do ur blog header? its fab!
Thanks for your lovely comment on my blog.. Glad u appreciated my laptop too :D
You can also follow me on Facebook via my blog.. I’d love to follow you there as well :)
Keep Visiting
New hair tutorial coming up! :)
I forgot to add.. Im following u thru google Friend connect.. Hope u follow my blog too :)
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Awesome pics, I love your style! and thanks for your lovely comment on my blog.XoXo
Viki
http://lavidaeternal.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much for your comment!
And just followed you on GFC! :D
Love your outfit!
Anna
xoxo
http://www.enchantedly–anna.blogspot.com
your blog is fantastic!!
so cute
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Hey there
What an interesting and stylish blog you have !! I like this art work, have never heard of this artist before and adore your outfit..
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I love your light purple dress, it’s very business casual and I can see it being styled in a number of ways. I also like the tan purse, very modern. Great blog. :)
Thanks for sharing, I’ve just followed your blog and would love it if you could do the same! (And feel free to comment on whatever you’d like):
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Angelica xoxo
you so beautiful *.* i love this dress :) i follow you ofc. :)
wow .. really, very pretty :D
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wanna follow each other?
Love,
LA STYLE MUSE
What an amazing place! And I absolutely love your outfit!!
I like so much your sense of style! Really nice post!!
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Why carry a hat when your bag can do the same thing.;)
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