Mitch Cairns: Artist’s Mouth is a major survey exhibition celebrating twenty years since Mitch Cairns graduated from the National Art School. The exhibition brings together more than 50 works spanning Cairns’ practice as a painter and artist.
Cairns’ playful paintings combine elements of Cubism, comics and concrete poetry, exploring pictorial conventions through puzzles, visual ambiguity and humour. His work moves between detailed and schematic forms, three-dimensional and two-dimensional imagery, and pop and retro visual languages.
Language has also been central to Cairns’ practice, connecting his work with concrete poetry and conceptualism. Alongside paintings, the exhibition includes works incorporating text, Letraset, vinyl lettering and letter-punch techniques.
Recent subjects include everyday objects and imagery such as lamps, shoes, cars, aeroplanes, cigarettes and clouds, alongside Cairns’ ongoing exploration of language and visual perception.
The exhibition is curated by Lucy Latella and Robert Leonard and is presented as a joint project with the National Art School. It follows the exhibition’s presentation at NAS Gallery in Sydney from 1 May–11 July 2026.
Image: Mitch Cairns Artist’s Mouth 2019, courtesy The Commercial.
