Svetlana Permenter graduated with a double major in English and Art History from University of Auckland. She was a high school teacher for ten years before she left to do a Master’s degree in Art History from the University of Auckland and later another degree in painting and visual communications, lectured for nearly ten years at Unitec and was the Junior Art Teacher at Waiheke High School.

“I majored in painting but I found my comfort zone in printmaking, that’s where I’m happiest. I love exaggerating forms in my work. When things are too anatomically perfect, I morph the forms into ugly forms because I love the exaggeration of some objects and parts over others. I love the way German Neo-Expressionist Jörg Immendorff displays perspective in his patterns especially in his representation of floor boards. That’s something I try to emulate in my prints.”

Aperitivo Sunday Evening. Colourl linocut print on paper.

“I went from sharper linear shape and form in my earlier work and the hard outlines are more developed in my more recent work. These works are a vehicle to continue to explore the painterly possibilities of the linocut; attempting to capture the juxtaposition of flesh tones of the figures. With the linocuts, I carve out the patterns onto the surface and collage several images over each other.”

Putiki Neighbors by Svetlana Parmenter — Putiki Neighbors, Colour linocut on paper.

Svetlana’s linocuts are made from the life drawings she made in drawing class and are made onto one lino plate. “If you make a mistake in your cutting the whole thing is ruined and you have to start over. The mortality rate is high with linocutting! When adding colour, each colour layer has to overlap perfectly or the registration of the layers is out of sync. Conversely, screen printing is much more delicate and precise and linocuts are a bit more crude.”