EAGERTALIS

Press Release

Nicelle Beauchene Gallery is pleased to present EAGERTALIS, Hydeon’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, incorporating new paintings alongside a video installation titled Adrift: In the Corners of Time.

Inspired by a myriad of historical and cultural touchstones from ancient civilizations, pop culture, Art Brut, medieval art, mythology and Gothic and Victorian architecture, Hydeon has established a visual lexicon through which he constructs dark and narrative-driven scenes. Often depicted in landscapes that evoke such Quattrocento masters as Leonardo and Donatello, his cast of characters play out vivid fantasies in a space that is familiar yet unplaceable. The highly detailed tableaux, calling to mind Dutch and Flemish renaissance painting, are glutted with allegory and a whimsical weirdness that empowers the work. Modern and vintage vehicles, virtual reality headsets, bongs, and robotronic arms collide with demons, colonial soldiers, wolves, and ancient ruins; creating panoramas that are rife with sneaky symbolism. Reflected through these constructed myths are the artist’s personal and collective memories, his heady dreams and nightmares, and the bedlam of distant pasts and uncertain futures.

The video work, Adrift: In the Corners of Time, brings the artist’s two-dimensional paintings to life, animating his subjects and their stories. Excerpted from a video game created through an ongoing collaboration with multimedia artist Joe George and filmmaker Dakota Pailes-Friedman, the piece translates the playable gaming experience into something purely voyeuristic. Narratives play out in a space that is active yet static—limited inherently by its fixed building blocks while brimming with tension as the protagonist makes decisions and navigates each challenge. Conceived as both a visual artwork and a traditional video game, the piece weaves together characters and themes that recur throughout the paintings, criss-crossing imagined worlds where social norms are inverted and dissonance pervades order.

Hydeon (Ian Ferguson, b. 1985, National City, California) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, and earned his BS in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of California. Recent exhibitions include Adrift in the Corner of Time, Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York (2024); Bimbamerica, Bim Bam Gallery, Paris, France (2024); Burners, Mortal Machine Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana (2023); Au-Delà, Bim Bam Gallery, Paris, France (2023); La Casa dei Vampiri, Spazio Contemporanea, Brescia, Italy (2022); En Forme De Cône, Bim Bam Gallery, Paris, France (2021); The Herms Opera, Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy (2021); Zum Helles, Studio 10-4, Berlin, Germany (2019).

Hydeon has collaborated with Bergdorf Goodman, Oscar Niemeyer Museum, The World Trade Center, Converse, Vans, Red Bull, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Sixpoint Brewery, and more. His work has been featured in VICE Media, Forbes Magazine, Hyperallergic, Hi Fructose Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine, Create! Magazine, Tape OP Magazine, Time Out Chicago, and more.