Institute of Contemporary Art Miami ICA Miami

Using Seaweed (2019) by Tomás Esson as a point of departure, Grace Almanza explores the artist’s fascination with landscapes and move away from figuration in his later work.

Tomás Esson (b. 1963, Havana, Cuba) graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, in 1987. His work was showcased in a number of controversial exhibitions in the late 1980s, as he became a central figure in the decade’s renaissance in Cuban art and began to exhibit internationally. In 1990, he left Cuba and has since then lived in Miami and New York City. His work is in the collections of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany; and Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico.