Square blue Collage

Ivana Svabic (1964. Belgrade)
Ivana is a printmaker and a childrens book illustrator based in
Bristol, UK. She has illustrated fifteen childrens books, published
by major international publishers and has exhibited widely at
over a hundred group exhibitions. She is a qualified Art & Design
teacher and runs workshops in drawing and printmaking.
Since1999, she is a member of Spike Print Studio in Bristol,
where she makes prints and participate in all annual group
exhibitions. Ivana is also a member of South West Illustrators
and of ULUPUDS - Serbian Association
of Applied Artists and Designers.


New prints by IVA - Ivana vabi Cannon
Extract from the latiest catalogue
Ivana once again presents us with a series of prints created through an insatiable drive for
experimentation.Her recent prints are disarming in their visual simplicity, and yet, they contain a
complexity arrived at through a decade of searching for essence. At once ascetic and opulent,
these works in linocut clearly reflect their medium. Although the narrative and the descriptive is
absent from the new worksby Ivana, the subject is still present. The subject is, simply put, the very
process itself; Iva uses the process to explore the abstract idea of the dynamic interplay of light to
create a profound psychological impact. The pattern, the artist's trademark, is still present in the new
work. In her previous approach, the pattern was usually the background for the illustration of Hero.
In these new works the pattern is the actor on the scene, carrying the visual message. In this series
the dominant visual element is not the colour, nor the tonality, the line or the texture. They are all
present, but united and animated into expression by the rhythm. The rhythm acts as a strong device
harmonising other visual components and conditioning their presence; without it, the emotion cannot
be conveyed, but under its helm even the simplest scene becomes an experience.
With these new linocuts Ivana is closing the circle of a productive thought, that in its maturing loses
pomposity and glamour, but attains refined ascetism and wise
modesty. Like the three phrases of Japanese haikuin three passes of the plate is achieved
the long sought for meaning.
Belgrade, January 2010 Miko Pavlovi