He trained as a set designer and was closely associated with the Lantern Theatre in Dublin. At an exhibition of portraits in 1991 Brian Fallon, then art critic for The Irish Times, described Funge as a "born handler of paint". Those who have sat for him include television personality Mike Murphy Funge and author Colm Toibin, who has said of Funge: "he has been an exemplary influence on a whole generation of Irish painters". He exhibits at the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Oireachtas Independents (ofWhyte's Auction