To close out the exhibition Mark + Olive Freeland / 100% Confectionate, we invite you to join us for a reception and screening of videos created by and about Mark Freeland on Friday, 27 July, from 7:00-10:00pm, with drink and pastry specials all evening.

7:30pm: MARK FREELAND Never Before, Never Again (49:20.00), a Bill LaMagna video following the life and career of the singer, rapper, artist before he passed away in 2007 of cancer. 

8:20pm: Who is this Guy? (1:37.17), starring Mark Freeland as himself and many other people, and “If, um, like David Bowie or Brook Shields or anyone should call…” just be sure to tell them Mark will be back around dinner time, okay?

This compilation of Mark Freeland’s characters, performances, and exhibitions highlight the spirit and personality of this special figure in our history. The mastermind of some of Buffalo’s most fearless rock projects, Pegasus, Pegasonics, the Fems, and Electroman, and a collaborator with Japanese superstar Motoharu Sano, he was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 1987. Freeland’s music is equally funny and danceable and his vibrant, colorful paintings, sculptures, collages, and lyrics reveal his passion for pop culture, love for his native Buffalo, and create a universally understood language that can brighten anyone’s day.

Our inaugural exhibition of works by Mark + Olive Freeland, 100% Confectionate, a title you’ll need to look up in the Urban Dictionary, will be on view through Thursday, 9 August 2018.

Mark Freeland was born in Kenmore, New York in 1957. He attended Empire State College where he studied music and majored in clarinet. Often compared to Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, combined with the style and commentary of graffiti artists Jean-Micheal Basquiat and Keith Haring, Freeland has had one-man exhibitions at Albright-Knox Art Gallery, which also acquired 60 of his pieces, Gallery 464, Redroom, and Gallery 141B in Buffalo, Austin Contemporary, Texas, the Swinghouse in Los Angeles, Apocalypse Gallery and Dorian Grey Gallery in New York City. He also self-published two books containing his poetry, photography, prose, and paintings, “Every Night is Different” and “Somewhat Hip,” the latter earned him a Silver Independent Publishers Award.

Olive, Buffalo-born, is a graduate of Buffalo State College and was inspired by Les Krims. Her work has been exhibited at Gallery 464, Wine on Third, and for the Buffalo Infringement Festival at B-West, Filigrees, and Cafe Aroma.