about
Joel Cunningham is an Australian multidisciplinary artist working across painting, drawing, sculpture, and embroidery. His work explores real and imagined characters and wildlife, abstracted land/cityscapes, and themes of identity, memory, and human connection. With influences ranging from Tribal Art, Cubism, and Graffiti to Outsider Art and Pop Art, his vibrant compositions and unorthodox forms blend diverse mediums and techniques.
Joel’s cityscape and landscape paintings celebrate the energy of urban and natural environments, drawing inspiration from architecture, travel, and iconic landmarks. His commissioned work Wollongbai, created for the University of Wollongong in Dubai, merges the skylines of Wollongong and Dubai, bridging cultures and histories through bold graphic elements. In contrast, his character-driven and figurative pieces offer a more introspective exploration of emotion, often infused with playful or surreal narratives—dinosaurs symbolizing resistance to growing up, video game-inspired triptychs, and pop-art homages to everyday moments.
His sculptural practice repurposes found materials, incorporating wood, glass, resin, and polymer clay—into bold, mask-like forms and intricate installations. Works such as Outside In and Timeless explore themes of anxiety, outsider identity, and the intangible energies that persist beyond the physical body. These figures, shaped through intuitive mark-making, reflect the fragmented nature of thought and emotion.
Embroidery emerged in Joel’s work through a collaboration with his wife, Cassie Noel, a skilled textile artist. Together, they developed a unique process combining painting and embroidery, later enlisting his mother, Sue Cunningham, as a key contributor. The process is meticulous and time-intensive, blending Joel’s expertise in colour and composition with the embroidery techniques passed down through the Noel family.
Joel’s work has been in solo, and group shows, commissioned installations, and art prizes, with many pieces now held in public and private collections. Through a diverse practice spanning multiple mediums, his work investigates how we see ourselves and others, how we move through the world, and how art connects memory, emotion, and form.
CV
Born 1985 in Sydney, Australia
Currently living and working in Sydney, Australia
Art Prizes
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:
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:
2018: Vulnerable, Monstrous and Vulnerably Monstrous, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2018: Timbres: Personal Qualities or Character, The Shop Gallery, Sydney
Group Exhibitions:
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:
2015: Bachelor of Visual Arts with First Class Honours, Sydney College of the Arts (Sydney University)
2012: Diploma of Fine Arts, Meadowbank TAFE, Sydney
