Mitch Cairns, ERATO, 2025, oil on linen, framed, 124.50 x 104.50 x 5.50 cm, TCG23674
(photo: The Commercial) private collection, Sydney

"Then there’s a large painting of a hand playing a harp. ‘I was thinking of Erato, goddess of poetry, whose attribute is a lyre,’ Cairns says, producing a stack of Guinness bar coasters he recently acquired. ‘As you can see, I’ve spent my time trying to work a hand into the Guinness trademark of the harp. This has introduced a lack of proportion to the image – it’s either a very large hand or a very small harp,’ he laughs."

Mitch Cairns in interview with Tony Magnusson for Look magazine, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Feb-March 2025