David Banegas (July 4, 1975) is a Bolivian born artist, specializing in action painting. David is best known for his colorful portraits of Hollywood’s historic and contemporary A-listers such as Marilyn Monroe, Heath Ledger, and Johnny Depp. At a mere 11 years old he had his first art gallery showing in Campo Grande, Brazil. Self-portraits and images in their actual likeness were his main focus. A
t age 12, he painted a portrait of Bolivian President Hugo Banzer. Upon receipt of the portrait, Banzer awarded David the opportunity to study privately with Masaiko Fujjita, old master art teacher from Japan. During his two year apprenticeship, David mastered paintings of landscapes, floral, and buildings using unique brush techniques. At the age of fifteen David moved to Carthage, Illinois as an exchange student. There he was able to learn English from his host family and attended art classes at University of Illinois at Macomb. From there, David moved to Miami where he continued his studies at the Ft. Miami served as a fertile training ground where David grew exponentially.
“My technique is something that happens at the moment, it flows, I can’t explain it. It is just that moment. It can be really fast or it can be really slow, it can take forever, but it only happens that moment. It is the art that God gives you, it is an unbelievable feeling.”
David has the philosophy of giving as much as you can, and then it will be given to you. In 2008, he did a portrait of Marilyn which was auctioned to benefit P.J. Schrantz, a retired New York City firefighter whose son passed away from Leukemia. He has also helped foundations such as “Best Buddies”, “The Jed Foundation”, “Shuzz”, “Legionaries of Christ”, and others. David’s current partnership immortalizing pictures of renowned Rock and Roll Photographer Mark Weiss is helping “Music Cares Foundation”, “John Varvatos, “Stuart House Foundation” and “Lunch Break.”
David remains dedicated to working for children’s charities around the United States and South America, as David says, “They are our future”. David sums all of this work up as being “the pursuit of happiness’.