Sean Cairns typically portrays romantic and tranquil scenes of nature juxtaposed against the animated pulse of human activity.  His vibrantly colored and rustic landscapes, which are inspired by color field painting and German expressionist painters, often reference or pay homage to his upbringing in the Midwest. Flat, rolling hills, sprawling farmland and vast prairies frequently dominate his canvases. Cairns typically utilizes sand, collage, pointillist, flat or impasto painting techniques to convey objects, surfaces, or landscapes. Through these techniques, he is able to blur the lines between the painted and the perceived, inviting viewers to traverse the realm where art and reality intertwine.

Sean Cairns (b. 1988, Sparta, IL) lives and works in Dallas, TX. Cairns received his MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (2014) and his BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (2011). Cairns has presented solo exhibitions with Shrine, New York, NY (2025); 12.26, Dallas, TX (2024); Valley House Gallery, Dallas, TX (2023, 2021), among others. Cairns’ work resides in the permanent collection of the Dallas Museum of Art.