Mitch Cairns: Restless Legs

6 September - 30 November 2025

Mitch Cairns’ striking paintings take inspiration from the world outside the Sydney artist’s inner-city studio, from nature and the built environment to the working lives of the people around him. They are immediately recognisable for their stylised imagery, refined brushwork and a restricted colour palette. Well-known as a portrait painter, having won the Archibald Prize in 2017, this exhibition reveals the full breadth of his practice and the diversity of his influences.

A de-commissioned power pole is recontextualised inside the gallery as a readymade sculpture (and a makeshift seat), evoking themes of class, labour, communication and regionalism (Cairns grew up in the Illawarra). Cairns’ interest in literature, text and reading are also revealed, both in paintings and in bronze reliefs containing quotes from various sources. The title of the show, Restless Legs, refers to what happens to the artist as he reads in bed at night.

An Art Gallery of New South Wales Touring Exhibition presented by Wollongong Art Gallery.

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Image: Mitch Cairns, Life-like (detail), 2024, oil on linen, 79 x 68.5 cm, private collection © Mitch Cairns. Courtesy The Commercial, Sydney, photo: The Commercial.