Ivan Mesek graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, in the painting class of professor Eugen Kokot. During his studies, he attended the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, where he participated in the painting class of Antonio Dias and in the class "Fluxus: A Practical Understanding" led by Dick Higgins. He earned his master's degree in 1999 at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in the post-graduate study programme "Bildnerisches Gestalten und Therapie" with the thesis "Application of Art Therapy in Art Education". During the period from 2005 to 2009, he was the deputy mayor of Varaždin in charge of social activities. He was the director of "Gallery Centre Varaždin" and the director of the Varaždin City Museum. As the president of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists in Varaždin during the period from 2000 to 2010, he initiated and organized numerous art projects. He is the initiator and organizer of the international festival Performance Days, which has seen twenty editions by now, and at which more than 150 projects by contemporary Croatian and international artists have been performed. In 2016, his short film Woodland Concertina, made in collaboration with Zefrey Throwell, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. At the group exhibition Despite the Environment, a unique retrospective of Croatian fine art in the past 150 years, held in 2018, Ivan Mesek was included among 65 authors. In the same year, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb published a monograph by Ivan Mesek, along with an expert text by Branko Franceschi. He was the curator of the 14th Almissa Open Art Festival and external associate at workshops with students of the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts held in Grožnjan. He participated in international residential programs, among which the following stand out: "CROssoverUK" in Stroud, England (2005), and "Eastern European Residency Exchange" in New York (2011). All the while, he is working as an active multimedia artist, engaged with painting, installations, urban interventions, performance, graphic design, photography, and documentary and experimental film.