Bree Gilliam, INSPIRED

April 26 – June 7, 2024

Re-Opening Reception, Friday, April 26, 2024, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

INSPIRED is a series of portrait paintings celebrating black creatives and professionals that inspire artist Bree Gilliam. For the artist, these powerful people exemplify what it means to be a creative. These individuals have and will continue to make an impact in their fields!
This exhibition was originally installed at BOX Gallery in the Hostel Buffalo-Niagara. This exhibition was made possible in part by Arts Services Incorporated.

Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge, As the Hour Turns Blue

May 24 – June 28, 2024

Opening Reception, Friday, May 24, 2024, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge (Rochester, NY) will exhibit her multimedia project As the hour turns blue. As the hour turns blue explores how we wait and how the spaces we are waiting in alter the experience. The long-term project observes places of unexpected encounter where tension and boredom cohabit: waiting rooms. From doctor’s offices to airports to unmarked waiting lines and geographical terrains, this multimedia project documents and examines these space – real and/or restaged – as sets for fictional stories and actions inspired by actual events.

Multinational Illumination Art, 1,849 Millas: Al otro lado del charco; A Diaspora Journey

May 24 – June 28, 2024

Opening Reception, Friday, May 24, 2024, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Multinational Art Collective will present their Vejigante masks as part of 1849: Al otro lado del charco; A Diaspora Journey. This exhibition, performance, and workshop series is centered on the Vejigante masks of Loiza and brings to the forefront the Puerto Rican experience as a diasporic population of the Caribbean.

Aitina Fareed-Cooke and Get Fokus’d Productions, Tales from the Porch, Part IV: Art is a Language

June 28 – August 3, 2024

Opening Reception, Friday, June 28, 2024, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Aitina Fareed-Cooke originally developed the Tales from the Porch project in 2019 as an opportunity to tell the stories and amplify the voices of members of the Buffalo, NY community. In 2024, the Tales from the Porch project will focus on five artists with ties to Buffalo Arts Studio.

Curated by Aitina Fareed-Cooke, Tales from the Porch IV; Art is a Language is an exploration of visual, performing and literary arts through a documentary film, multimedia arts exhibition, and live performance series. The film will be screened at Villa Maria College and features artists Julia Bottoms, Bob Fleming, George Hughes, Phyllis Thompson, and Muhammad Zaman, all of whom share a deep connection with Buffalo Arts Studio. Buffalo Arts Studio will present the multimedia exhibition Tales from the Porch IV; Art is a Language, which will include work by each of the artists in conversation with Fareed-Cooke’s photography and poetry.

Léwuga Benson, Fueling Change: A Multimedia Exploration of Niger Delta’s Oil Crisis

July 26 – September 7, 2024

Opening Reception, Friday, July 26, 2024, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Buffalo Arts Studio presents Léwuga Benson’s Fueling Change: A Multimedia Exploration of Niger Delta’s Oil Crisis. Benson’s immersive, multimedia exhibition will shed light on the harsh realities of oil extraction and its effects on the indigenous people of the Niger Delta in Western Nigeria, his homeland. Through a thought-provoking combination of artifacts, found footage, and sound, visitors will be transported into the lives of those most affected, raising awareness and fostering dialogue about the social, economic, and environmental consequences of unregulated oil extraction practices.

Joan Linder, Serve & Fulfill

September 27 – November 9, 2024

Opening Reception, Friday, September 27, 2024, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Joan Linder’s exhibition Serve & Fulfill will examine local aspects of the hidden-in-plain-sight landscape of e-commerce, cloud computing, and crypto-mining. Linder’s expansive drawings chart the toxic legacy of sites like Love Canal in Niagara Falls to the 21st century investments in new technology including cloud computing and crypto server farms retrofitted into defunct factories.

Stephanie Rothenberg, Aquadisia: Great Lakes Zebra Mussels

September 27 – November 9, 2024

Opening Reception, Friday, September 27, 2024, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Stephanie Rothenberg’s Aquadisia: Great Lakes Zebra Mussels, is a multi-media science fiction project that focuses on the desire to be more sustainable and explores the ethical and economic contradictions of biotechnology within the fields of marine science and environmental conservation. The project aims to not only critique some of the contradictions of genetic engineering and blue capitalism but to provide a space for envisioning alternative multispecies future-making.