Mitch Cairns, Self-portrait as a pair of restless legs, 2025, oil on linen, framed, 124.50 x 104.50 x 5.50 cm, TCG23676
(photo: The Commercial) this work is on reserve for a public institution

"So, what’s behind the title, Restless Legs? ‘I don’t know if I have Restless Legs Syndrome, formally, as a condition,’ Cairns says. ‘But when I’m reading in bed at night, which I like to do, it’s something that occurs. It’s an irritant to my reading habit and it interferes with the computation of language. And so, as subject matter, it’s found its way into several of the paintings.’"

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