After Eight Years Away, Ibsen Espada’s Solo Show Is Extensive — and Evolutionary

After Eight Years Away, Ibsen Espada’s Solo Show Is Extensive — and Evolutionary

Espada's 'Medruscala,' detail

ABRASIVE SILENCE IS the provocative title of Foltz Fine Art's current exhibition of more than 50 recent paintings by Houston artist Ibsen Espada. The spacious, sunlit gallery resounds with the musicality and rhythms of Espada's artworks, some on canvas, some on rice paper, all of which hang together like a silent symphony of juicy colors and mysterious textures.

Born in New York in 1952, Espada grew up in Puerto Rico. He began creating art under the tutelage of Cuban expat Rolando Lopez Dirube, a deaf man, whose modes of expression included painting, wood carving and printing.


Espada and his family relocated to Houston in 1975, where he studied with Dorothy Hood, another important mentor, and would be selected as one of just three Latino artists for the 1985-1986 exhibition Fresh Paint: The Houston School, hosted by the MFAH. Abrasive Silence includes a separate room works from this era, including a large painting from 1989 titled Frequency, in which Espada's distinctive calligraphic lines and hermetic symbols tumble and twirl like wreckage caught inside a tornado's funnel.

Throughout his career, Espada has experimented with unusual combinations of materials. In his newest works, carborundum, an abrasive powder that can be bonded for use inside a bullet-proof vest, is sprinkled over paint that has been applied to the canvas using such unconventional tools as windshield wipers. The results contain all the energy of a focused meditation, with plenty of layers and space for the willing viewer to let themselves get lost in.

It's been eight years since Espada has had a solo show, which makes Abrasive Silence even more of a cause for celebration, though seeing how his work has continued to evolve is what makes this show so special. Perhaps there is power in embracing silence, and taking time away to work on one's craft?

'Bumeron'

'Gogustra'

Art + Entertainment
Fall Philanthropy Report: Children’s Assessment Center Touts ‘Healing’ for Child Abuse Victims

What is your mission? The Children’s Assessment Center (The CAC) provides healing services to over 6,300 child sexual abuse victims and their families each year. We offer forensic interviewing, family advocacy, mental health services, medical care, and court services at no cost. We facilitate community outreach and prevention training to raise awareness about child abuse in our community and how to keep children safe. Last year, we provided prevention training to over 35,000 community members, including 23,500 children in schools.

Keep Reading Show less

ON JAN. 3, 2025, I observed a big personal anniversary. As of that day, it’d been 20 years since I first moved to Houston — from the Big Apple media circus, by way of my home state of Louisiana — and began working as an editor in the lifestyle-magazine biz here. It’s been two full decades, which is hard to believe! I like to joke that I’m far too young and good-looking to have done anything for two decades. But here we are.

Keep Reading Show less

Christopher Salazar stars as troubled-genius chef in the Alley's 'Seared'.

ONE OF HOUSTON'S favorite theater makers — Alley Associate Artistic Director Brandon Weinbrenner — has gotten some delicious news about his latest show. The run of his Seared, a sometimes-funny and sometimes-intense tale of life in the kitchen at a suddenly hot New York restaurant by playright Theresa Rebeck, has been extended beyond its original schedule and will now be up through March 9.

Keep Reading Show less
Food+Travel