Printmaker, painter and teacher Marcos Irizarry (Yrizarry) was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico in 1936. He first studied art under painter Cristóbal Ruiz at the University of Puerto Rico between 1952 and 1958. In 1958 he entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain 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.

Irizarry began working 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 and 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.

He had numerous solo shows in Spain, Italy, New York, Washington, California, Columbia, and his native Puerto Rico. Group shows in which he participated include the 1989 Biennial of Graphic Art of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, the first Biennial of Havana in 1984, and Arco, Madrid in 1981 and 1982.

Marcos Irizarry died in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1995.