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Michael De Feo (b. 1972, Yonkers, NY) is an American artist based in New York City.
De Feo received his BFA from School of Visual Arts and his MAT from Manhattanville College. His work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries including The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; Artists Space, New York, NY; Poster House, New York, NY; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; Bibliotheque Toulouse, Toulouse, France; Museo de Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Colette, Paris. Notable exhibitions include 2005's Two Atmospheres, at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; 2008's Flowers at Manifesta 7 in Trento, Italy; 2016's Crosstown Traffic, a site-specific installation at Rice Gallery in Houston; 2016's solo exhibition at Danziger Gallery, New York, NY; and 2023’s Silence, Like a Thought, at Hexton Gallery in Aspen, Colorado.
De Feo's work has appeared in a variety of film documentaries including Alice Arnold's To Be Seen (aired on PBS/WNET and screened at The Museum of Modern Art, 2006); and Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop: A Banksy Film (Paranoid Pictures, 2010) which was an Academy Award best documentary nominee. De Feo's work has also been featured in over 40 books such as Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art by Carlo McCormick, Marc & Sara Schiller, and Ethel Sono (Tachen, America, 2010); Highbrow, Lowbrow, Brilliant, Despicable: Fifty Years of New York Magazine, by The Editors of New York Magazine, (Simon and Schuster, New York, 2017); and One Thing Well: Twenty Years of Installation Art, edited by Rainey Knudson, text by Kimberly Davenport, Joshua Fischer, Nonya Grenader, Dave Hickey et al. (Rice Gallery Press, Houston, TX, 2021);
Michael's work has been profiled in The New York Times, VOGUE, Forbes, Paper, i-D, New York Magazine and countless other outlets. Michael has also collaborated with fashion brands including Neiman Marcus, Christian Louboutin, La Mer, MILLY, J.Crew, and Guerlain. Michael regularly supports non-profits such as New Yorkers for Parks, Friends of the High Line and the Children's Museum of The Arts, all located in New York City, and LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, NY.
In 2004, Gingko Press published Michael’s first book, Alphabet City: Out on the Streets. This award-winning children's book employs New York City as his canvas, using his paintings glued on the streets of Manhattan to illustrate each letter of the alphabet. An initial review by Newsweek International said, "De Feo's art evokes beauty and optimism with a childlike simplicity while paying homage to gritty Manhattan." Alphabet City continues to be in release and is presently in its fifth printing.
Michael's monograph, Flowers, was published by Abrams Books in April 2019. This hardcover book documents his flower project from its genesis as a New York City street art project in 1993 up and through his various floral-inspired studio paintings and projects. Michael toured numerous museums and book shops across America and Europe in support of Flowers.
In September 2022, Poster House New York published, Out of Fashion, a book focusing on a body of work that De Feo began in 2015, whose origin evolved from his newfound ability to access the advertising vitrines in city bus-stop shelters leading to his "advertising takeover" paintings. Released on the occasion of Poster House's exhibition, Masked Vigilantes on Silent Motorbikes, this special edition is limited to 500 signed copies.
Michael was an early pioneer in the street art movement in New York City, widely known for his floral paintings which explore themes of ephemerality, growth, and the cycle of life. De Feo's penchant for flowers have earned him the nickname, "The Flower Guy." He has been creating works on the streets for over 30 years in more than 60 cities including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Cabo San Lucas, Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong and others.
Michael is the recipient of a Clio Award in Fashion & Beauty, a D&AD Pencil award for Magazine Design, two Certificates of Design Excellence from Print Magazine, and the Radius Award from The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.
Facing consistent rent increases at his Upper East Side art studio, Michael has decided to leave his beloved space on a high note by transforming it into a gallery titled, Last Days Gallery. Using the remainder of his lease to mount a group exhibition, Just a Song Before I Go, will be the gallery's opening and closing show. The exhibition runs from January 22 through February 22, 2025.
Michael lives and works in Manhattan.
