Darren Cullen (artist)

Darren Cullen (born 1983 in Leeds, England) is a British artist and political cartoonist whose artwork satirises topics ranging from the insidious nature of advertising,[1] from the culpability of the Santa lie[2] to armed forces recruitment propaganda.[3]

This article is about the British/Irish artist and cartoonist. For Graffiti artists known as SER, see Darren Cullen.
Darren Cullen
Born
Darren Cullen
NationalityBritish/Irish
EducationGlasgow School of Art
Known forVisual art, satire
Websitespellingmistakescostlives.com

In 2014, his anti-army recruitment comic Join the Army was added to the Victoria and Albert Museum permanent collection.[4]

Art

Cullen came to prominence as a student in 2005 when his plan to erect a billboard that attacked the commercialisation of Christmas was scrapped.[5] Cullen says his 2012 work Baby's First Baby was about "the way these toys intrinsically train girls to have and care for children while they are still only children themselves".[6] In 2014, Cullen opened a shop installation called 'Pocket Money Loans' in Finsbury Park at Atom Gallery.[7] A payday loan shop for kids, which appeared to give children an advance on their pocket money at 5000% interest. In 2015, he took the work to Banksy's Dismaland, opening the shop in a portacabin next to the children's play area.[8]

In 2015, alongside Veterans for Peace UK he released a series of films called Action Man: Battlefield Casualties. Directed by Price James, featuring Matt Berry and written by Cullen, the films parody '90s Action Man toy adverts to draw attention to the possible outcomes of military service through three short 'adverts' for PTSD Action Man, Paralysed Action Man and Dead Action Man.[9] They were part of a campaign by Veterans for Peace UK to raise the British military age of recruitment from 16 to 18, in line with other European and NATO countries.[10]

Music

Cullen played drums in the bands Shitdisco and Age of Consent.[11] While a member of Shitdisco, he worked with the Japanese idol group 80_pan to compose and arrange the song "crazy", released on the 2008 album DISCO BABY.

Writing

Cullen co-wrote a monthly satirical 'horoscopes' column with Mark Tolson for The Skinny magazine until 2017.[12]

References
  1. The Independent. "Payday loans that are marketed at kids? Why not?", The Independent
  2. The Guardian. "Student's anti-Santa poster scrapped", The Guardian
  3. The Skinny. "Darren Cullen: Unto the Breach", The Skinny
  4. "Your Search Results - Search the Collections - Victoria and Albert Museum". collections.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  5. "Student's anti-Santa poster scrapped". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  6. The Huffington Post https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/16/babys-first-baby-artist-darren-cullens-disturbing-pregnancy-action-doll-_n_1969219.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. Editor, Sara C. Nelson Senior; UK, The Huffington Post (29 October 2014). "First Payday Loans Shop For Children Opens In London*". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 10 July 2017.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  8. Schwab, Katharine. "Welcome to 'Dismaland': A Theme Park by Banksy". Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  9. "Spoof Action Man: Battlefield Casualties ad is hilarious and very chilling". 6 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  10. http://wwwbattlefieldcasualties.co.uk%5B%5D
  11. Berlin Beat "Interview: Age of Consent", Berlin Beat
  12. "Comedy Opinion and Features - The Skinny". Retrieved 10 July 2017.
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