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Michael De Feo (born July 21, 1972) is an American artist based in New York City. He is best known for his floral paintings and street art which deal with themes of ephemerality, growth, the cycle of life and the coupling of beauty with the universality of death.[1] De Feo's penchant for flowers have earned him the nickname, "The Flower Guy."[2]
His work shows a wide range of influences, including Dutch 17th century still life painting,[3] fashion magazines,[4] and fashion advertising campaigns.[5] He often adds his floral treatments and cascades of multicolored petals to existing printed images from the fashion world and art history/traditional art, which both subverts and celebrates the underlying image.[6] "De Feo's work," Wonderland magazine has written, "contains all the necessary components to make it well and truly groundbreaking."[7]
Since 1992, De Feo has been creating works on the streets in over 60 cities across the world, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, London, Cabo San Lucas, Buenos Aires and Hong Kong.[8] De Feo is best known in the street art movement for his iconic illustration of a flower.[9]
The first large flower he painted in 1994 was on East 23rd Street,[10] between Second and Third Avenues.[11]
In 2004, Gingko Press published De Feo's first book, Alphabet City: Out on the Streets.[12]
In 2019, Abrams Books published Michael De Feo: Flowers, a monograph celebrating and documenting 25 years of De Feo's use of flowers from his street art to his studio paintings.[13]
De Feo's work has been featured in a numerous international galleries and museums, notably at the New Museum in New York in 2003;[14] the Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 2005;[15] Manifesta 7 in Trento, Italy in 2008;[16] the Underbelly Project in New York in 2010;[17] and Jonathan LeVine's 10 years of Wooster Collective show in 2013, for which De Feo exhibited several flower paintings along with his manhole cover sculpture;[18] Bleecker Street Arts Club in 2014;[19] a solo exhibition at Danziger Gallery in New York in 2015;[20] a solo exhibition at The Garage in Amsterdam in 2015;[21] a site-specific installation at the Rice Gallery in Houston in 2016;[22] and a School of Visual Arts alumni exhibition at the School of Visual Arts Chelsea Gallery in 2017.[23]
De Feo has collaborated with multiple fashion brands.
In 2017, De Feo designed a line of shirts for J. Crew. The brand first recognized De Feo when he painted his signature cascade of flowers over one of their bus advertisements in the spring of 2015.[24] His art was also used in the windows of J.Crew stores worldwide.[25]
He has also done work with Milly,[26] Neiman Marcus,[27] and Christian Louboutin.[5]
De Feo has contributed his work to various benefit auctions and non-profit organizations, such as Free Arts[28] and the Children's Museum of New York.[29] Russel Simmon's philanthropy, Rush Philanthropic, chose De Feo as their featured artist of the year in 2014.[30]
De Feo has been working with the High Line in New York since prior to its groundbreaking in 2006. In September 2016, De Feo designed signage, posters, and various artwork to celebrate the Chelsea Grasslands for the Friends of the High Line in New York.[31]
