Java.JUNE.2018

he could transfer to the San Francisco Art Institute in the Bay Area. That’s where
he found a passion for painting and, more importantly, met Francesca.
After getting married, Freedman entered the graduate program at Hunter College
in New York. “It was a theory-based school, so we did a ton of reading and
writing,” he said. “At the time, it was really difficult to figure it all out. Even just
to understand all the vocabulary and the references – it’s quite vast. It was quite a
struggle until towards the end of graduate school, and then it all started to make
sense.” The day after his culminating thesis show, Francesca gave birth to their
daughter, Hunter.
With an MFA and a new family, Freedman moved to Arizona in 2001. This time
around, instead of Tucson, he chose to reside in Scottsdale. Francesca continued
to pursue her professional career, and he stayed home and raised their daughter,
providing him with the time and flexibility to work on his art.
Freedman came into contact with David White, owner of the now defunct New
Urban Art Gallery in downtown Phoenix, and presented his portfolio. White took
an interest in his work and proposed he do a group show with kindred artists
Grant Wiggins and Oliver Hibert. Freedman’s work at the time heavily referenced
popular culture, and so did theirs. “We decided to plan a show, and the more we
got together, we kind of realized that we all wanted to get to the same place. We
had similar aesthetics in a lot of ways, but each kind of occupied a different slice
of that pie,” he said.
A week before their show was to open, the New Urban Art Gallery closed. The
newly formed collective was not deterred. White talked to his friend Wayne
Rainey, who happened to own monOrchid, and the opening was finally realized.
The show and the collective were a massive hit. The TRA 25 Capsule, as they
were known, had several successful shows in Phoenix and Los Angeles, creating
quite a buzz in the Phoenix art scene and even garnering national recognition. They
eventually landed a coveted spot in the Fresh Paint exhibition at the Phoenix Art
Museum. “It showcased the best of the West in terms of painting and installation
work,” Freedman said. “We got a lot of attention.”
This experience gave Freedman a taste of success. But the collective would be
unable to stay together. The trio had different goals, as far as art careers, and they
eventually grew apart.
Freedman and his family moved back to New York when Francesca received a job
offer in 2006. Mark continued to paint and raise their daughter. He was featured in
some shows and made some connections in the New York art scene, but nothing
substantial materialized. “My work needed time to grow, before I felt like I was
fully realized in my voice,” Freedman said. The circles they moved in enabled him
to make art in the Hamptons every summer. “I got re-inspired by the art community
out in the Hamptons – a very cool contemporary art community, gallery-wise and eventwise.
It got me very excited about art, outside of my studio. During those years, that’s
when I feel like I kind of brought it all together, and it’s been like that ever since.”
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MAGAZINE