Born in a tiny mountain village near the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia, art had fascinated Ivan since the age of seven. Living in Paris, France for two years where he was first exposed to the fine art of the Old Masters, Ivan spent all his free time at the Louvre, studying the paintings and the sculptures of such artists as Michaelangelo, Dali and Chagall.
By the age of fourteen, he and his mother, Anka, had settled in Canada. Within two years, Ivan had demonstrated his artist ability by winning the U.N.E.S.C.O. Art Contest. The piece which won this prestigious international award, a still life painting in acrylic, on canvas, was displayed as far away as New Zealand. Despite this early success, the irresistible lure of girls, cars and competitive athletics caused Ivan's devotion to his art to wane during his teenage years. He did prove to be a talented athlete, reaching the all Ontario finals in high school wrestling and setting records in track and field.

This lapse of interest in art is also partially explained by Ivan's increasing boredom with conventional art forms. He felt that there had to be something more exciting than the pencil, charcoal and paintbrush that everyone else seemed to be using at the time. Nevertheless, Ivan did not stray too far from the world of art; he got spending money by working as an artist's model for the art departement at the University of Windsor, monitoring the art lessons being given, even as he posed.
Interestingly, Ivan turned down a scholarship to the Canadian Art Institute in Toronto because, modeling for university level art classes convinced him that what was being taught in schools was formulaic - students were taught to simply copy standardised methods and techniques. Ivan felt he had to follow his own instincts.

His search for something new and exciting came to fruitation in 1972, at a custom car show across the river in Detroit Michigan, U.S.A. There Ivan was mesmerised by a well-known hot rod artist of the time. The artist, "Big Daddy Roth", was using an airbrush to paint outlandish cartoons on tee-shirts. Ivan found the look of airbrush art and the speed with which it could be done very appealing. He was hooked, buying his first new airbrush the very next day.

At the time he was living in a hotel in Windsor. The owner was struggling to make a rock and roll bar in the hotel profitable. they struck a deal; for $200.00 and six months rent, Ivan would mural the lobby of the bar.

Within three weeks, he had mastered the use of the airbrush and the bar, freshly muraled with likenesses of popular rock musicians, was packing in appreciative crowds. This was his first airbrush commision. By the end of the year, Ivan had combined his new-found talent with the airbrush with his other interests and had muraled his 1970 Cuda muscle car with a Jurassic Park theme of dinosaurs and beautiful girls, creating a revolutionary piece of automotive art he called "Evolution".

Entering the vehicle in the very competitive Detroit Autorama, custom car show in January, 1973, Ivan won 'Best in Class'. His was the only fully muraled automobile in the show and was said to be the first example of serious art in North America.

The quality of his work was established later that year when, competing againt paintings on canvas and sculptures, "Evolution" drove away with first prize in the anual Windsor Fine Art Contest. Ivan's reputation was now widely recognised.

In 1974, Ivan married and opened an automobile body shop, specializing in custom paint jobs on motorcycles and vans. His work won "Best Paint" awards in numerous national and international shows, and he began receiving out-of-town commisions. By 1976, he was starring as a 'featured performer' at custom car, van and motorcycle shows throughout North America. He airbrushed his own van at the 1976 Detroit Autorama in front of 117,000 people and received heavy magazine exposure, gaining him a reputation throughout North America.

The automotive airbrush work he did, took first place at virtually every show it was entered over the next five years. At one major show, a van done by Ivan (Strange Brew II) even took the "People's Choice" award, even though the piece was part of a commercial display and had not even been entered in the competition!

Ivan's creativity and talent were not confined to the airbrush. Automobile form and function were also regarded as interesting challenges. Not content to simply taking boring stock vehicles and transform them into pieces of art with paint jobs, he began designing and building his own vehicles. In 1978, a star was born by the name of "Cosmic Cruiser", a van which, interestingly enough had lines which showed up in vans produced by Chrysler, Ford and GMC a decade later.
The original "Cosmic Cruiser" was a 1973 Chevy van, chopped and lowered 6 inches with a stunning, handmade front end and a lavish interior that alone cost over $10,000. Fully muraled, the Cruiser was featured at numerous International Show Car Association (I.S.C.A.) competitions and was the rage of the custom van world. Ivan even entered a door from the Cruiser into the 1981 Windsor Art Gallery competition. As in 1973, competing against sculptures and paintings on canvas, Ivan won the show. In 1982 he opened the "Cosmic Studio Body Shop", where he designed, built and painted radical show cars. In 1983, he rebuilt the Cosmic Cruiser, adding dual front and rear wheels and twin 350 c.u. Corvette engines. Over the years, the Cruiser has continued to metamorphasise.
Today, the Cruiser is thirty-four feet long, has dual wheels front and rear, a sculpted solid oak dash and a moon roof. Fully road worthy, the Cruiser elicits admiring stares on its many excursions.

Then tragedy struck. While on a camping trip, a runaway car piloted by a drunken driver broke many of Ivan's bones and made him realise his mortality. Feeling that his automotive art was transitory, he shifted gears and began specializing in very large scale murals, on and in buildings, and to a more limited extent, sculpture. These media, he feels, have the best chance of preservation for generations to come. As if his accident wasn't enough, recently his home was also flooded resulting in all his photographic material and huge amounts of magazines he was featured in, to be lost forever. Only a handful of material was saved, most of it being published here on this web site. It almost seems as if all tangible things of his glorious days in customizing were erased forever.
As a result of Ivan's return to airbrushing on canvas, he has received numerous commissions from churches, restaurants and private individuals.
Ivan strives to achieve a sense of serenity in his work now, without resorting to bright colours used solely to grab ones attention. He uses both the brush and the airbrush in his paintings in such a way that the viewer is unable to tell where the use of one technique ends and the other begins. Early Salvador Dali is cited as Ivan's greatest artistic influence, especially in the execution of water scenes. Ivan admires Evers, the great American artist, for his landscapes, Frazettta for motion of figures, Boris for sheer execution and Michaelangelo for sculptures. Ivan is also a member of the Canadian Airbrush Association. A limited edition series of prints of his eight paintings and a series of posters featuring the Cosmic Cruiser are available for purchase. For more information, please call: (Canada) (519) 735-0123.

This article could not have been realized without the help of : Paul S. Koczkur, Dan Reaume and Dawn Copland. Special thanks to AirBrush Art and Action Magazine of Germany for publishing some of the artwork displayed on these pages.