Fresh out of Art College, Ivan Lloyd traveled overland to Greece, while his friends became established as commercial artists in London’s advertising world. He survived initially by sketching the historical ruins of Athens and Delphi for sale to visiting tourists. He later sailed across the Mediterranean to Egypt and eventually settled in Tangiers, an International city with a colorful history and a reputation as a center for the Bohemian culture of the early sixties.

Tangiers had a thriving Black Market and an intriguing counter culture especially appealing to a young artist, so Lloyd applied for permission to become a permanent resident a privilege shared with only a select few International celebrities.

Under a special provision only granted to foreign artists by Mohamed V, the last Sultan of Morocco, Lloyd was given permanent residence status, in spite of being a portrait painter as his only means of support.

During the seven years he studied Arabic calligraphy and Islamic design he became friends with the writers and artists who had established Tangiers as a Bohemian Mecca during the Beatnik era. Lloyd worked out of the Camel Art Gallery and soon became established as a portrait painter with such notable clients as Paul Bowles, William Burroughs, Barbara Hutton, Jazz musician Randy Western, John Paul Getty Jr. and movie actor Ty Hardin.

In 1972 Lloyd left Tangiers and traveled overland to Bombay where he studied the Art and culture of India, before settling in America. His more recent portraits are dedicated to the ethnic beauty of women of all cultural backgrounds in the belief the artist can play a significant role in the process of reawakening the spiritual qualities of mankind by establishing racial and gender equality not just in our own society but around the world.