Houston was already a hotbed of Abstract Expressionism when a young and aspiring Ibsen Espada moved here from his native Puerto Rico in the early 70s to study painting and printmaking at the museum’s Glassell School. There Espada prospered under the mentorship of Dorothy Hood and Dick Wray, two giants of the Houston art scene and preeminent stars with the Glassell’s instructional largess. Working first as an assistant to Hood and then subsequently as protégé to Wray, Espada applied personal genius and rich interactions with these grand Houston maestros to develop and refine a powerful personal style of abstract painting. Now well-established in his own right, this show considers Espada’s bold and energetic abstractions, presenting them for the first time in an artful dialogue with paintings and drawing of his distinguished mentors, Dorothy Hood and Dick Wray. The selection makes for a season-opening blockbuster, and brings out the best among all three of these Houston greats.
