Nepo’s Murals: Painting Puerto Rico onto the Face of NYC

You can’t miss a Nepo mural.

The bold colors catch your eye, but it's the vitality within that holds your gaze. Each piece pulses with life, reflecting the artist's deep roots in Puerto Rico and his vibrant presence in New York City. Nepo's work adorns city walls with layered meaning, telling stories, bridging cultures, and inscribing Puerto Rican identity into the visual rhythm of New York.

A fixture in the New York street art scene of the early 2000s and 2010s, Nepo is a muralist and a quiet force—someone who left his mark through consistent, intentional work that spoke through color, form, and presence. A Puerto Rican artist with deep roots on the island and an enduring love for New York, he transformed walls into spaces of dialogue. Places to speak back, reflect, and reconnect with cultural memory.

A Voice from the Island, Painted in the City

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Nepo carried the island with him in everything he created. His murals — many painted illegally, in true street art fashion — were known for their saturated colors, emotive faces, and recurring motifs that nodded to Afro-Caribbean heritage, spiritual symbolism, and the layered experience of diaspora. In neighborhoods throughout NYC, his work became a visual tether for Puerto Ricans navigating life between places.

What set Nepo apart wasn’t just his talent. It was his message. He wasn’t trying to beautify the city in a generic way. He was embedding Puerto Rican culture into the public imagination. His art made space for Puerto Rican identity in a city so diverse that it’s easy to get lost.

As he shared in his 2013 interview with Street Art NYC, to him, the street was a kind of liberation — unpredictable, open, and full of meaning. It was a form of liberation:

Murals that Speak in Layers

Nepo’s murals are instantly recognizable. Large eyes, exaggerated features, and textured brushwork that echo both folk art and spiritual iconography. But behind the striking visuals are layered themes. Exile, survival, faith, and freedom. His color palettes feel tropical and defiant, with rich oranges, reds, and blues that pulse against the gray of city brick.

Some of his work explores identity through masks and faces, reminiscent of Puerto Rico’s vejigante tradition, blending folklore and resistance. Others are portraits of unnamed figures — stand-ins for ancestors, friends, or entire communities.

And then there are the tags. Small symbols, cryptic words, and lines from poetry that NEPO scrawled beside his murals. Many of them served as invitations, beckoning the viewer to ask questions, look deeper, or consider what it means to belong.

“I love the feeling of being free… the idea that I can be anywhere at any time and paint something meaningful.” — Nepo, Street Art NYC Interview

Legacy in the Streets and Beyond

Though many of NEPO’s murals have faded or been painted over, his influence still lingers. Photos of his work circulate in street art blogs and archives, and conversations about representation in public art often include his name. For Puerto Rican artists in the diaspora, his murals became a form of cultural grounding. Proof that you could show up boldly, be rooted, and still reach across oceans.

In Welcome Home, his legacy is honored not only through archival references and storytelling, but through a spirit that infuses the entire exhibit: one of visibility, voice, and vibrant resistance.

Original Nepo Grafitti Street Sign. Available for acquisition at VersusGalleries.com

Friendship, Art, and Building a Home for Culture

Behind the scenes, NEPO’s journey as an artist was shaped by community — including his long-standing collaboration with the founder of Versus Galleries. Both born and raised in Puerto Rico, they connected over a shared love of storytelling, culture, and art’s power to preserve identity. While Nepo took to the streets, his friend took to the digital world, creating Versus Galleries as a platform to support Puerto Rican artists and amplify their work.

The Welcome Home exhibit, curated by Versus Galleries, honors this shared purpose. It carries forward a vision rooted in friendship, cultural pride, and the desire to uplift Puerto Rican voices. More than a collection of visual art, it’s a platform where stories are told by the artists who lived them—made visible, accessible, and celebrated well beyond the island—between two Puerto Rican art lovers who believe in the importance of holding space for the underrepresented perspective, particularly those shaped by Caribbean heritage.

Conclusion: A Wall Is a Window

Nepo's work demonstrates how art can make space. That a blank wall could become a window — into culture, into memory, into possibility. His murals weren’t about ego or fame; they were about marking space with meaning.

Today, through Versus Galleries and Welcome Home, that window stays open. The exhibit continues what Nepo began — offering Puerto Rican artists a way to be seen, and audiences a way to reconnect with what home can look like, even far from the island.

For Nepo, and for so many others, the street became a place to carve out identity—an open-air canvas where cultural memory and belonging could take shape.

Nepo at Wix in Chelsea, NYC.

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