Collection

Printmaker, painter and teacher. Irizarry first studied art under painter Cristóbal Ruiz at the University of Puerto Rico. In 1958 he entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, and in 1962 he entered the printmaking studio at that school, where he learned intaglio techniques. Irizarry is considered an innovative artist and a virtuoso in the techniques of intaglio printing. He also worked in etching and aquatint, sometimes combining them creatively with other techniques, and, beginning in 1988, made ventures into painting. He was a force behind the creation of the metal engraving studio at the Puerto Rico School of Plastic Arts, and from 1987 until his death he was artist-in-residence at the University of Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez Campus. His work evolved over the course of his career, a result of his contact with international avant-garde movements during the twenty-six years he lived in Spain and his constant travels throughout the rest of Europe.