Sydney artist Mitch Cairns presents oil paintings, text-based bronze plates and a power pole sculpture in his first solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Restless legs – a title referencing the sensation he feels sometimes while reading in bed.

The disparate body of work on display is informed by Cairns’ literary interests and influences, his inner-city locale and the humour and pathos of daily life.

Language underpins several works in Restless legs. Pictures of letters and numbers, quotations from books and text messages, and a recontextualised power pole (which formerly transmitted telephone calls) all allude to language playfully.

Nature also emerges as a significant theme, with land, sky, water, vegetation and the remnant of a tree all featuring in the show alongside an imaginative self-portrait as a floral still life.

Cairns is well known as a portrait painter, having won the Archibald Prize in 2017. This exhibition reveals the breadth of his practice and the diversity of his influences.

Restless legs has been commissioned by the Art Gallery for the Contemporary Projects series, which showcases new works by contemporary artists from NSW.