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Bio
Michael Pfleghaar is an artist residing and working in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He earned his MFA in visual arts from Lesley University College of Art and Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2011. Pfleghaar often portrays botanicals and still lifes, infusing them with abstract elements and flattened space to generate new perspectives. His compositions reflect influences from mid-century modern design, evident in the clean lines, balance, and use of organic materials.
Pfleghaar was one of 40 artist chosen for the Midwest Review 2024 in New American Paintings curated by Rosario Güiraldes, Curator of Visual Arts at the Walker Art Center. In 2023, Pfleghaar was chosen as one of four artists to have their work permanently installed as terrazzo floor designs at the Gerald R Ford International Airport.
Pfleghaar’s artwork has won numerous awards and featured in Architectural Digest, Arcadia Magazine, Studio Visit, Metropolitan Home, Solace, and American Craft. Organizations such as the Gilmore Piano Festival 2024, Apple, HBO, CBS, ForeSee, Hayworth, and Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts have utilized his artwork as illustrations.
In 2016, Pfleghaar attended the Spread Art Artists Residency in Detroit, MI, and in 2013, he was honored with the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Ox-Bow School and Artists Residency in Saugatuck, MI. His work was part of the 2012 LGBTQ exhibition ReMix: Revisiting Appropriation, curated by Jonathan Katz in San Francisco, CA. Pfleghaar’s original artworks are included in permanent collections, such as the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Steelcase Inc., Herman Miller, the State of Michigan, and Grand Valley State University.
Statement
My work explores relationships—between form and space, abstraction and representation, and the emotional charge embedded in everyday objects. I’m drawn to the subtle drama that unfolds between the ordinary and the stylized, using flattened perspectives, exaggerated color, and sharp contours to create a distinct visual language rooted in both design and memory.
At the core of my practice is a deep engagement with my immediate environment: domestic interiors, still life arrangements, and natural forms. These familiar spaces serve as both subject and metaphor, allowing me to reflect on personal identity, particularly through a queer lens. The objects I depict often take on anthropomorphic qualities, suggesting intimacy, ritual, and presence.
A pivotal shift occurred during my MFA studies when I moved away from overt representation and began embracing abstraction. That period opened up a deeper inquiry into process, surface, and structure. Influenced by modernist design and the formal qualities of readymades, I began to explore how masking techniques, layering, and mark-making could disrupt or elevate perception.
Today, my representational work carries forward these abstract strategies. Rather than separating the two modes, I see them as deeply intertwined. Abstraction becomes a tool for clarity, and representation becomes a vehicle for ambiguity. This ongoing interplay allows me to reimagine domestic and botanical imagery as sites of tension, reflection, and transformation.
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