Ibsen Espada was born in 1952 in New York City, and grew up in Puerto Rico, where he studied under the Cuban muralist, Rolando Lopez Dirube. Espada received his BFA at the University of Sacred Heart in San Juan, then moved to Houston, Texas in the late 70s, where he was a member of the Houston School, a collection of experimental artists. Espada is a leading contemporary artist in Houston and is best known for his vibrant, gestural abstraction paintings. His work embraces multimedia collage, calligraphic marks, and experiments with the application of paint with unusual tools. He was included in the 1985 exhibition Fresh Paint: The Houston School curated by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston as one of the few Hispanic artists selected. His work was recognized again by the Museum of Fine Arts before their exhibition traveled to four major art cities in the country, in the 1987 exhibition, Hispanic Art in the United States: 30 Contemporary Painters and Sculptors.
