Houston artist Ibsen Espada, famous for his prolific output of colourful summary work, died on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at age 73.
Mr. Espada was born in New York Metropolis in 1952. Raised in Puerto Rico, he performed drums, a expertise which carried over into the daring coloration and calligraphy of his portray. On the event of Mr. Espada’s 2021 solo exhibition Abrasive Silence at Foltz Nice Artwork in Houston, arts author Chris Becker wrote in Houston CityBook of the “musicality and rhythms of Espada’s artworks … which cling collectively like a silent symphony.” Mr. Becker additionally famous that Mr. Espada was tutored initially of his profession by Cuban expatriate artist Rolando Lopez Dirube, a deaf man. Whereas in Puerto Rico, Mr. Espada was a member of the Artwork College students’ League, and obtained a BFA from the College of the Sacred Coronary heart School of Arts and Humanities within the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan.
Mr. Espada moved to Houston in 1975 and labored as Dorothy Hood’s studio assistant. He then attended the Alfred C. Glassell College of Artwork, the place he studied underneath Dick Wray. In 1985, Mr. Espada was included within the exhibition Fresh Paint: The Houston School, curated by Barbara Rose and Susie Kalil, originating at Museum of Nice Arts, Houston. The present traveled to MoMA PS1, the place it was reviewed within the New York Times.
Ibsen Espada, “Trapesoide,” 2021, blended media and carborundum on canvas, 20 x 16 inches
Mr. Espada exhibited often in Houston, together with the Abstract Dialogue exhibition at Foltz Nice Artwork in 2016 and Abrasive Silence in 2021, which garnered plaudits together with a narrative in Puerto Rico Art News, which described him as “one of the crucial necessary up to date Texas painters,” a Glasstire Top Five point out, and fellow painter and curator Jim Hatchett proclaiming Mr. Espada “among the finest summary painters in Houston.”
Artists Mike Hollis and Patrick Renner standing with Ibsen Espada
Social media posts saying Mr. Espada’s demise obtained heat feedback from the artist’s colleagues and buddies, who talked about his love of cooking — seen in a 2018 video Mr. Espada posted touting “My well-known paella” — and his expertise for Latin dancing.
Steve Press and Robert Wray stand with artist Ibsen Espada in Houston on March 22, 2025. Picture: Lauri Wray
Lauri McCarthy Wray, Mr. Wray’s daughter-in-law, instructed Glasstire the artist, whom she known as “Ibbie,” “was additionally an exquisite prepare dinner. For his seventieth birthday, we threw a celebration and he insisted on making us a Puerto Rican feast. The night time earlier than, we went buying at a number of totally different shops, and he was so specific about each ingredient — it needed to be simply as he remembered his mom making it.”
Ms. Wray famous that Mr. Espada maintained shut friendships with fellow artists Richard Stout, Earl Staley, Lucas Johnson, and Michael Hollis. She first met Mr. Espada in 2010 and was instantly struck by the physicality of his portray type. She stated she was lucky to witness the evolution of his type over time, adopting new supplies and compositional approaches. “By all of it, he maintained a core visible language rooted in typographic parts and motion, hallmarks of his distinctive voice,” Ms. Wray stated.
She and husband Robert as soon as traded a automobile to Mr. Espada for a portray, titled Morphidia, which she stated holds deep which means for her. “The method of naming his items was one thing particular. It was like a efficiency: he would pause, assume, after which communicate a reputation into existence. It was uniquely Ibsen — intuitive, theatrical, and profoundly becoming.”
Mr. Espada’s art work might be discovered within the collections of a number of Texas museums, together with the Artwork Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, the Artwork Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, Katy Up to date Artwork Museum, Lyric Arts Heart in Houston, the Museum of Texas Tech College in Lubbock, the Trendy Artwork Museum of Fort Value, and the Museum of Nice Arts, Houston.
