Ivan Kustura

Art Brokerage: Ivan Kustura Croatian Artist: b. 1953. Ivan Kustura was born in 1951, in Slivno, Croatia. As the creator, Kustura finds answers in his work. The viewer, however, may find that answers that lead to the kind of questions that lurk just under your skin, that you can't quite put into words. I have followed his career since his early days on the west coast and while his work has changed over the years—it is now more serene, and somehow wiser—his paintings from whatever era are immediately recognizable. Immediately, you know his work not only for its style, characterized by his sensual, confident, often breathtaking brushwork, but for a kind of tension of content that is singular. It can only be a painter who has never been anything else. His subjects are often classical: nudes, portraits, or landscapes, or the figure of a horse or hands. But unlike most painters of classical subjects, his paintings are not windows on the world-either the real world or the world of the imagination. His paintings don't have a time or a place. He creates a world with its own tense dynamics—and one that is totally bounded by the edges of the canvas. It can be a kind of idyllic world, as in Val Over Road. This is a more classic Kustura, a celebration of the female form echoed by the landscape, characteristic of his earlier works. The sculptural qualities reflect his early training as a sculptor and show up in his paintings of the female figure. "How can one not be fascinated," he says. "From the time the Venus of Willendorf, artists pay women tribute. They can make life, after all. Compared to women, men are just water pistols." Listings wanted.