MAN, WERE THEY LONESOME

Born in 1974 in Niagara Falls, New York, Robert Lynch earned a Bachelors in Art Education in 1998 and a Masters in Multidisciplinary Studies from Buffalo State College in 2002. 

Legendary artist Wayne White called Rob “The best High School Art Teacher on Earth. Rob has taught both Fine Art and Music at Niagara Falls High School, Buffalo Arts Studio, The Albright Knox Art Gallery, Artpark, The Burchfield Penney Art Center, Alder Creek Music, Lewiston Porter High School, and various Buffalo Public Schools as a teaching artist with the Arts In Education Institute of WNY. He is a key member of the Police Athletic League’s Niagara County Arts Awards and co-founder of the Niagara Falls High School Arts And Culture Club, which allows students to visit cultural destinations in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toronto and New York City. Always looking to wear more hats, Rob has worked as a contributing reviewer for the Buffalo News, a hat model for Buffalo Spree Magazine, a guerrilla gardener, Block Club leader, Half-Marathon runner, a maker of travel films and was featured in a 2015 ad campaign for Excelsior Orthopedics. In 2017 he founded Lilac Park in Downtown Niagara Falls, NY. He kids you not.

Rob’s Multidisciplinary background has found a home in various places: He has produced four solo recordings of “bittersweet art pop”, one of which was proclaimed by Buffalo News music critic Jeff Miers as, “One of the best releases of the year, period. Stunning.” His discography as an award winning session drummer is long and varied. Highlights include work with national artists Peter Case, Stan Ridgway, Gurf Morlix, Ani Difranco, Rex Hobart, Michael Tarbox and 10,000 Maniacs founders/members John and Mary. Some of the more interesting musical paths taken include a weekly bluegrass gig with guitarist Doug Yeomans, a soul jazz matinee with organist Ronnie Davis and a yearly recording project of non-traditional Christmas songs known as Robot Holiday. Recently, rob has enjoyed recording with Hussalonia and Jonathan Hughes on their separate solo projects. In the early 90’s Rob’s band placed first in the Late Night with Conan O’Brien College Music Search, narrowly missing the grand prize of appearing on the show but gaining a fantastic NBC sweatshirt (now lost). Working heavily in a variety of styles lead to his induction in the Buffalo Music Hall Of Fame in 2011 as one of the organization’s youngest members.

Rob has worked as a commercial artist for The Public, Media Play Inc, Buffalo Spree, The Hard Rock Café, John’s Tex Mex, You And Who and The Aquarium of Niagara Falls. Public art exhibitions include Herd about Buffalo, Papergirl (Berlin, Germany), The Hard Rock Café New Years Eve Guitar Drop, the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation, and Art Alley in Downtown Niagara Falls, which he co-founded and curated. In 2016 he was a juror for the Elmwood Festival of the Arts in Buffalo NY. Since 2016, Rob has sat on the Board Of Directors for the world-renown Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center. Working along with Matthew Sagurney as The Solo Roths, they continue to produce large scale improvisational paintings, often in front of an audience. Both Rob’s paintings and The Solo Roth's works are held in numerous private and public collections nationwide, and have been exhibited in Western New York and beyond through solo and group shows. Rob's mural work both alone and with The Solo Roths have been part of the WNY resurgence,. with many tourists sharing their work.