John Beard Janet Laurence

Janet Laurence is an installation artist whose work extends from the gallery into urban spaces. A former Art Gallery of NSW trustee, she has undertaken numerous public commissions. Her work is held in public and private collections in Australia and internationally.

It has been said that Laurence’s work echoes architecture and yet retains a sense of the instability and transience found in nature; John Beard’s monochromatic portraits of fellow artists share similar qualities. While painting the structure, or architecture, of his friends’ heads and faces, he also aims to capture the sense of fleeting, ever-changing expression.

From this collaboration of artist and artist-as-subject, a kind of double portraiture emerges. If a viewer knows the work of the artist portrayed, another visual layer resonates. Without the use of colour – that might highlight the differences or similarities between his subjects – Beard focuses the viewer’s attention not just on the individual sitter but on the structure of the painting itself. Light plays an important role in the visual dynamic of the image as we literally move around these sculptural works to fully appreciate their form and making.

Born in Wales in 1943, Beard has been represented in group and solo shows at galleries including the Art Gallery of NSW, the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery in Canberra, Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, and in London at the Tate, Whitechapel Gallery, Royal Academy, Science Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Beard’s Archibald Prize-winning portrait of Laurence is now in the collection of the Art Gallery of NSW.