about

What if a building, a train, or a mask wasn’t just an object—but character, stage, and conflict all at once? Joel Cunningham’s art lives in that tension: between architecture’s structure and instinct’s collapse; between what’s constructed and what’s felt, remembered, or imagined.

Across painting, sculpture, embroidery, works on paper and found materials, Joel creates bold, raw, and often absurd imagery. Dinosaurs swagger, buildings flicker, characters melt into masks, and objects take on personality. His work is deeply self-reflective—a way of weaving thoughts, emotions, and the energy of becoming into visual form. It captures the mid-shift: moments suspended between roles, masks, memories, performance, collapse.

Drawing on graffiti, cartoon logic, tribal influences, and the emphasised feel of materials (spray paint, oil pastel, wood, textile), Joel invites the viewer not just to see, but to feel uneasy joy, to recognize the absurd in self, to wonder who we become when mask meets face.

A graduate with Honours from Sydney College of the Arts, Joel has exhibited extensively across NSW and Melbourne, been selected as a finalist in multiple prizes, and forged connections with collectors drawn to the living, untamed energy of his work.

CV

Born 1985 in Sydney, Australia

Currently living and working in Sydney, Australia

Art Prizes

2025: Omnia Art Prize, Melbourne

2024: Hunters Hill Art Prize, Sydney

2019: Hunters Hill Art Prize, Sydney

2017: Small Works Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne

2017: Hunters Hill Art Prize, Sydney

2016: Sculpture at Scenic World, Katoomba

2016: Hidden, Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney

2015: Hunters Hill Art Prize, Sydney

2014: Sculpture in the Gardens, Rosby Winery, Mudgee

2014: Sculpture on the Greens, Kooindah Waters, Wyong

2013: Sculpture in the Vines, Wollombi Winery, Hunter Valley

2013: Sculpture on the Greens, Kooindah Waters, Wyong

2013: Sculpture in the Gardens, Rosby Winery, Mudgee (Emerging Artist Award)

Public Collections and Commissions:

2025: Artwork commissioned as centrepiece for cocktail bar - The Tailor Room, Sydney

2021: Wollongbai, 2 Paintings purchased by the University of Wollongong in Dubai for display on campus

2016: Eden Unearthed, commissioned sculpture installation for Eden Gardens, Sydney

2016: Beams Festival Chippendale, commissioned sculptural installation, Sydney

Solo Exhibitions:

2025: The Things We Become: 40 Odd Years, Woodburn Creatives, Sydney

2018: Vulnerable, Monstrous and Vulnerably Monstrous, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne

2018: Timbres: Personal Qualities or Character, The Shop Gallery, Sydney

Group Exhibitions:

2025: Comminisci, Ellipsis Gallery, Sydney

2024: Untethered, The Shop Gallery, Sydney

2024: Faces in Flux, Ambush Gallery, Sydney (Curated and Exhibited in)

2023: Face to Face, Mothership Studios, Sydney (Curated and Exhibited in)

2023: All the Wonders, The Shop Gallery, Sydney

2023: Hooray for Hollywood, Hollywood Hotel, Sydney

2022: Art Springs for Wildlife (supporting wildlife rescue south coast), Berry School of the Arts

2022: Windows to the Wild, The Shop Gallery, Sydney

2021: Points of Departure, Sydney University Thyne Reid Boat Shed, Sydney

2021: Lost and Found, Ambush Gallery, Sydney (Curated and Exhibited in)

2020: Between Worlds, The Shop Gallery, Sydney

2019: The Other Art Fair, Australian Technology Park, Sydney

2017: Balmain Art and Craft Show, Sydney

2016: Put It on Wax 2 (a charity event), Ambush Gallery, Sydney

2016: Balmain Art and Craft Show, Sydney

2016: Makers Matter: Round 2, Gaffa Gallery, Sydney

2016: Collective Unconscious, M2 Gallery, Sydney

2015: SCA Honours Degree Show, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney

2015: Put it on Wax, (a charity event), The Standard (bar), Sydney

2015: Tarantino, The Fox Hole (bar), Sydney

2015: Art Noir, Mr Falcons (bar), Sydney

2014: Bohemian Grove, Mr Falcons (bar), Sydney

2014: Yippee Kai Aye, Mr Falcons (bar), Sydney

2014: SCA Degree Show, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney

2014: Sculpture on the Greens Smalls, Bobbie P Gallery, Wyong

2013: Time Pieces, CK Gallery, Sydney

2012: Diploma of Fine Arts Show, See Street Gallery, Sydney

2012: Construction, Fabrication, Installation, Pop Goes the Easel Gallery, Sydney

2012: Translation, See Street Gallery, Sydney

Training and Education:

2025: Art Career Academy, Going Art Pro + Momentum (international arts community) - Ongoing

2015: Bachelor of Visual Arts with First Class Honours, Sydney College of the Arts (Sydney University)

2012: Diploma of Fine Arts, Meadowbank TAFE, Sydney