John DeFaro
John DeFaro is an American self-taught artist and designer whose interdisciplinary practice spans sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, furniture, fashion, performance, and photography. Born in Greenport, New York, DeFaro began his creative path on Eastern Long Island, where he connected with artists and designers and worked in his mid-20s as an assistant to curator and art critic Henry Geldzahler. His early career included furniture design for Lexington Home Brands and exhibiting his weathervane sculpture The Wave at the Parrish Art Museum Design Biennial in 1991. Based in Miami since 1995, his work explores environmental awareness, cultural inquiry, and the living world through materially driven and socially engaged projects. He has exhibited at institutions including the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami-Dade Kendall Gallery, Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, and the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
In 2023, his Green Paintings series and the performance Sew Me, featuring Niurca Márquez, debuted at Feria Clandestina Art Fair during Miami Art Week. In 2024, he was selected for the Green Space Miami Open Call Exhibition, where he led two public workshops titled FREE AIR. That same year, DeFaro was named a Tropical Audubon Society Ambassador and has served as an Artist Access and SAS-C grant panelist for the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. His work has been supported by multiple COVID Artist Relief Grants from Oolite Arts, the Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with Pérez Art Museum Miami, and Americans for the Arts.
He is the founder of Green Religion®, a climate-aware creative studio, cultural platform, and evolving body of work anchored at greenreligion.com. Through Green Religion, DeFaro explores Climate AWEAR and Climate AWEARness, concepts that connect art, design, storytelling, observation, and participation as pathways toward deeper engagement with the living world. The project brings together apparel, publishing, workshops, public programs, and collaborative creative initiatives that invite artists, writers, and cultural contributors to explore climate, culture, care, and connection through everyday experience.
His studio practice remains centered on drawing and painting, with photography supporting the development of original imagery that informs both exhibitions and the visual language of Green Religion. This interdisciplinary approach extends across artworks, editions, public participation projects, and design-based initiatives, including the THANK A TREE workshop series developed in collaboration with Living Studio. Through this expanding practice, DeFaro continues to connect art, design, and environmental awareness while exploring new forms of participation in the living world.
