Mitch Cairns' 'Self portrait' currently on show at the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Archibald Prize 2013 until 2 June
22 April – 2 June 2013

With this painting, Cairns wanted to do as little as possible in terms of composition, using both an economy of line and measured paint application. ‘The Archibald Prize is generally filled wall-to-wall with large works so I wanted to make a relatively small, straightforward picture without all of the overtly symbolic filler that can sometimes distract the viewer from the primary subject,’ he says.

Further information here