Houston artist Ibsen Espada, noted for his prolific output of colorful abstract paintings, died on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at age 73.
Ibsen Espada
Mr. Espada was born in New York City in 1952. Raised in Puerto Rico, he played drums, a talent which carried over into the bold coloration and calligraphy of his painting. On the occasion of Mr. Espada’s 2021 solo exhibition Abrasive Silence at Foltz Fine Art in Houston, arts writer Chris Becker wrote in Houston CityBook of the “musicality and rhythms of Espada’s artworks … which hang together like a silent symphony.” Mr. Becker also noted that Mr. Espada was tutored at the beginning of his career by Cuban expatriate artist Rolando Lopez Dirube, a deaf man. While in Puerto Rico, Mr. Espada was a member of the Art Students’ League, and received a BFA from the University of the Sacred Heart College of Arts and Humanities in the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan.
Mr. Espada moved to Houston in 1975 and worked as Dorothy Hood’s studio assistant. He then attended the Alfred C. Glassell School of Art, where he studied under Dick Wray. In 1985, Mr. Espada was included in the exhibition Fresh Paint: The Houston School, curated by Barbara Rose and Susie Kalil, originating at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The show traveled to MoMA PS1, where it was reviewed in the New York Times.
Ibsen Espada, “Trapesoide,” 2021, mixed media and carborundum on canvas, 20 x 16 inches
Mr. Espada exhibited occasionally in Houston, including the Abstract Dialogue exhibition at Foltz Fine Art in 2016 and Abrasive Silence in 2021, which garnered plaudits including a story in Puerto Rico Art News, which described him as “one of the most important contemporary Texas painters,” a Glasstire Top Five mention, and fellow painter and curator Jim Hatchett proclaiming Mr. Espada “one of the best abstract painters in Houston.”
Artists Mike Hollis and Patrick Renner standing with Ibsen Espada
Social media posts announcing Mr. Espada’s death received warm comments from the artist’s colleagues and friends, who mentioned his love of cooking — visible in a 2018 video Mr. Espada posted touting “My famous paella” — and his talent for Latin dancing.
Steve Press and Robert Wray stand with artist Ibsen Espada in Houston on March 22, 2025. Photo: Lauri Wray
Lauri McCarthy Wray, Mr. Wray’s daughter-in-law, told Glasstire the artist, whom she called “Ibbie,” “was also a wonderful cook. For his 70th birthday, we threw a party and he insisted on making us a Puerto Rican feast. The night before, we went shopping at several different stores, and he was so particular about every ingredient — it had to be just as he remembered his mother making it.”
Ms. Wray noted that Mr. Espada maintained close friendships with fellow artists Richard Stout, Earl Staley, Lucas Johnson, and Michael Hollis. She first met Mr. Espada in 2010 and was immediately struck by the physicality of his painting style. She said she was fortunate to witness the evolution of his style over time, adopting new materials and compositional approaches. “Through it all, he maintained a core visual language rooted in typographic elements and movement, hallmarks of his distinctive voice,” Ms. Wray said.
She and husband Robert once traded a car to Mr. Espada for a painting, titled Morphidia, which she said holds deep meaning for her. “The process of naming his pieces was something special. It was like a performance: he would pause, think, and then speak a name into existence. It was uniquely Ibsen — intuitive, theatrical, and profoundly fitting.”
Mr. Espada’s artwork can be found in the collections of several Texas museums, including the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, Katy Contemporary Art Museum, Lyric Arts Center in Houston, the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
