Easton Nights is a story which grew from the unique and uncommon valley in which the city lies, and is told with the images of unpeopled landscapes taken at night. Here, in the small hours, the world we see as mundane, cascades into dream. Like a surreal scene from a Guillermo del Toro film, trash bins and Toyotas, stop signs and doorways; all become animated. They lean, they stretch, and emanate, all with umbrageous hues, which seem to exhale from the nights own personal color wheel. Scattered signs give the words, marking our place in time while the geometries show our relentless effort to arrange our world in a box. These are our stages, with the houses our beehives, the machines our toys, and the doors our portals. Complete they are a mimesis of our daily life, as can only shown in the mystical emptiness of night. Then with the dawn comes the beginning, where we all wake and act; all while these magical and romantic worlds return to sleep.
This project is now entering its 5th year with a great deal of time being put into an evolving presentation. Traditional matting and variation in size cause the viewer to look inside while floating and double sided frames bring the exhibits out into the space, trying to emulate some of the ethereal qualities of the photographs by allowing the viewer to walk through and among the imagery.
Currently being displayed at the Freedman Gallery in Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania until November 25, and will be at the Noyes Museum, Art Garage in April and May of 2021. There will also be two small exhibits at the Colorida Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal March 2021, and Gastfield, Bremen Germany April through June 2021
Peter Ydeen currently lives in Easton, Pennsylvania and works in New York City. He studied painting and sculpture at Virginia Tech, under Ray Kass, (BA), Brooklyn College under Alan D’Arcangelo and Robert Henry and Phillip Pearlstein, (MFA Fellowship) and at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (Scholarship) with visiting artists, Francesco Clemente, Judy Pfaff, William Wegman, Mark Di Suvero and others.
After his studies were completed, Peter made his way in a variety of jobs, including set construction, lighting, technical illustration, architectural modeling working in architecture, staging, advertising and film. Later, after marrying his wife Mei li, they opened a gallery in New York City selling African, Chinese and Tibetan antique sculpture.
Over the last several years Peter has concentrated on photography where he is able to use the many years spent learning to see. Inspired by the poetic works of George Tice, he wandered into the area of urban landscape, finally landing in the surreal and romantic realm of Easton’s Nights. Here he has become obsessed with the stage like places, which are at once animated, silent and cathartic; all acting as reflections of our uncommon world.
Copyright © Peter Ydeen, all rights reserved
