Iva Hladis was born in Czechoslovakia in 1965.

Her exposure to art began early in life; both her father and mother were artists. At fifteen, after being denied studying art, she became associated with  “Charter 77 “, an underground political group that championed human rights in the then Russian occupied Czechoslovakia.

In the summer of 1985 Iva escaped and made her home in Rome, Italy. A year later she was granted political asylum in the United States. Upon her arrival she began pursuing her passion as an artist, the reason behind leaving her country.

In the last 23 years her art went through many faces. From abstracted figures dominating with an intense symbolism to figures recognizably human. Most recently her attention turned to the issue of global warming and world destruction with a new series of artworks titled “Origins Extinct”; assemblages of used computer chipboards, real botanicals, bugs, Czech glass beads, found objects, wires and pearls.  Many of her works from “Origins Extinct” incorporate the use of LED light systems wherein the translucent nature of the works is accentuated.

Currently, Iva continues to work and live in Los Angeles and Prague.