David Zayas

David Zayas is an internationally renowned Puerto Rican artist whose murals can be seen on walls across the world, from Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Israel and the US. Zayas studied painting at Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico and served as a professor at the Metropolitan University in San Juan, where he taught the only Urban Art course offered in Puerto Rico.

For the past 20 years, Zayas has been creating murals that focus on “society — us, human beings.” In his art, Zayas heavily incorporates symbolism as a tool to tell stories about the human experience and the journey from life to death, while capturing the powerful history of his Caribbean culture.

Additional Artist Information

Zayas discovered his voice through an early self-produced project, “Un Zayas Por Día” (One Zayas per Day),” in which he created one painting daily for an entire year, spanning from 2012 to 2013. The artwork entered collections in Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Paraguay, as well as across the United States and Puerto Rico. The series of 365 works aims to merge beautiful moments with realistic truths, showcasing our shared humanity across cultures.

His solo exhibitions in Puerto Rico’s celebrated art museums include “ANIMALIA” at the Art Museum of Caguas and “MURALIS: An Exhibition of Contemporary Muralism” at the Museum of the Americas in Old San Juan, the only exhibit of its kind in the history of the island. His international honors and exhibitions include the 12th edition of the Biennial in Havana, Cuba; the 3rd Biennial International MULI of Muralism and Public Art of Colombia; Artists for Israel in Hadera, Israel; the International Art Biennial Miramar in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and the International Muralism Biennial of Tarija, Bolivia.

While his practice extended into ten countries by 2017, his career reached a new level in the wake of Hurricane Maria, when the island of Puerto Rico widely and wildly embraced one of his paintings that represents the challenges, and also the strength of the island: “Renacer Borincano” (“Rebirth of the Borincano” — a reference to Borinquen, the indigenous Taino name for the island.) In 2021, his mural “La Sala del Maestro (The Master’s Living Room)” was inaugurated on a 120-foot acoustic shell in the central plaza of Cayey, Puerto Rico, honoring the legacy of Ramón Frade, an iconic Puerto Rican artist and architect. This mural has become the most important of his career, and the design has since been officially instituted as the logo of the City.

Zayas collaborated with global artist Bad Bunny with a painting “Estamos Bien (We are Well)” that he performed live at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium, and with his mural “Aquí VIVE gente cosechando futuro (People LIVE here harvesting the future),” which appears in his musical video and documentary “El Apagón (The Blackout)” in collaboration with independent reporter Bianca Graulau. In the past year, he has received the distinguished honor of creating a commemorative stamp for the United States Postal Service. He also contributed four paintings to the permanent collection of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world.