Mitch Cairns, Stephen Ralph, 2025, oil on linen, framed, 154.50 x 104.00 x 4.50 cm, TCG23696

exhibition text:

Stephen Ralph is a sculptor. He makes abstract and figurative works, using a range of materials and techniques, including concrete, ceramic and wood, and most recently, carved marble heads and anatomies.

He is also a musician and plays alongside fellow Sydney artists Mitch Cairns, Nick Strike and Michael Snape in the band Terrible Music.

‘Stephen is a close friend – a master on the fiddle and a meticulous artist. He carries his exemplary craftsmanship across disciplines with care, precision and gentility,’ says Cairns, who is also a finalist in this year’s Sulman Prize.

‘Stephen and I met almost 20 years ago at Stonevilla Studios in Sydenham where he works – an extraordinary studio with a rich history in its own right.

‘This portrait followed a path of least resistance. It began with the rediscovery of a linocut I made around five years ago – an image that, at the time, wasn’t consciously of Stephen. But seeing it again, it became him. It opened up an opportunity to reflect and formalise in paint our friendship, our shared time playing music together, and the occasions we’ve exhibited alongside each other.’