Kerrie Lester Janet Vernon in reflection

For the last two years Kerrie Lester has had paintings of musicians hung in the Archibald Prize. This year she painted a dancer. “I wanted to paint Janet Vernon because I admire her work greatly. She is definitely Australia’s leading contemporary dancer.”

Like Lester’s paintings, Vernon’s work is unique in its personality and commanding in its passion. Janet Vernon in reflection is so named because Lester was concerned with capturing the two sides of her subject. The seated figure represents the private nature of the sitter – “Janet reflecting on her performance, I wanted to show her as an artist completely obsessed with her work”. In the mirror is Vernon’s stage image, intense and dramatic. “The rope running through the painting is symbolic of the strength and tension in Janet, how every movement is precise and fluid.”

Born in Sydney in 1953, Kerrie Lester studied at the National Art School from 1971 to 1974 and then at Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education in 1975. She has been a finalist in eight previous Archibald exhibitions.