The Russi Hive

Alejandra Russi
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  • SOCIETY & CULTURE

The Russi Hive is a podcast about creativity—unfolding in conversations with expected and unexpected people; not only artists, but anyone with a practice, a system, or an obsession that shapes how they think and live. Presented by Ricco/Maresca and hosted by Alejandra Russi, The Russi Hive is filmed and recorded in the gallery’s New York City space. This show is a place for those drawn to the unseen mechanics of making, the inner weather reports, invented languages, and the way an idea arrives at the "wrong" time and still changes everything.

Episodes

  1. 6D AGO

    Sarah Theresa Lee: The Inner Archive — Intimacy, Fantasy, and a “Process with No Process"

    Sarah Theresa Lee paints domestic scenes that feel like stage sets for the psyche: living rooms, bathrooms, and bedrooms where women, animals, and masked children share the same charged air—unsettling, off-kilter, and strangely familiar all at once. In this episode of The Russi Hive, Alejandra and Sarah talk about how a self-described doodler and lifelong horror-movie obsessive went from ballpoint pen drawings at the kitchen table to a debut New York solo show at Ricco/Maresca Gallery, while still working as a psychiatric nurse in London. From there, they move from lockdown boredom and a reluctant first Instagram post to an outpouring of small drawings and paintings that strangers instantly recognized themselves in, and to the discovery that her “naive” style—flat bodies, puppet-like figures, skewed perspective—wasn’t a flaw to correct but the very thing that made the work feel unique. They explore her inner “cabinet of curiosities,” the mental archive where childhood perfumes, cheap shampoos, bunny slippers, horror VHS covers, and awkward family interiors all get stored and later recombine into images that collapse nostalgia, menace, and deadpan humor on a single surface. Along the way, Sarah reflects on growing up around serious mental illness, why working in psychiatric care has taught her how thin the line is between “normal” reality and overflowing inner worlds, and how art-making functions as a form of escape that lets her process without turning patients into material. They talk about being self-taught as both freedom and “box,” why she prefers to leave interpretation open, and the importance of laughing—even in the darkest stretches of life. Original music and sonic identity by Antfood. Sound design: Federico Casazza. Follow The Russi Hive: YouTube Instagram TikTok Substack

    47 min

  2. MAR 19

    Hydeon: Don’t Force the Magic — Alter Egos, World-Building, and Meditative Focus

    Ian Ferguson—aka Hydeon—builds worlds where time folds in on itself: street‑level present, layered pasts, and speculative futures all coexist like screenshots from a game your childhood brain only half-remembers. In this episode of The Russi Hive, Alejandra and Hydeon talk about alter egos as creative engines—how Hydeon “fuses” with Ian, why his musical persona Vonson needed its own name, and what happens when you perform Tropicana‑electronic pop with a scavenged Radio Shack keyboard, a children’s autotune box, and an unplugged mic.​ They trace his path from San Diego kid obsessed with historical detail to Brooklyn-based artist, using alter egos to expand the work’s mythology. From there, they move through his paintings and his project “Adrift in the Corners of Time,” first conceived as a series of works for his debut exhibition at Ricco/Maresca and now evolving into a survival adventure video game built with longtime friends—where each island lives in a different historical era and the player travels between them, solving puzzles and fighting demons. Along the way, they return to childhood wonder, the brain’s blurry line between imagination and perception, and the feeling that our inner worlds sometimes register as vividly as what’s in front of us. Now 40, Hydeon reflects on dead‑end jobs, refusing to give his life over to "the system," and what it means to arrive not in crisis but with a hard‑won, quietly grounded sense of having built your own universe on your own terms. Original music and sonic identity by Antfood. Sound design: Federico Casazza. Follow The Russi Hive: YouTube Instagram TikTok Substack

    43 min

  3. MAR 5

    Frank Maresca: Legendary Eye — Fear, Instinct, and the Art of Looking

    In the debut episode of The Russi Hive, Alejandra sits down with Frank Maresca, co-founder of Ricco/Maresca Gallery and one of the most influential champions of vernacular, self-taught, and outsider art of the last four decades.​ They trace Maresca’s path from Brooklyn kid and obsessive collector to fashion and beauty photographer and, eventually, full-time art dealer whose instinct for the unnamed and overlooked has quietly reshaped art history. Along the way, Maresca reflects on why knowing your limitations can be a creative superpower, how fear of failure can fuel great work, and what he learned about fearlessness by watching outsider artist William Hawkins “let the painting make itself.”​ The conversation moves through his sci-fi and monster-movie obsessions, the formative magic of museum back rooms with his eccentric Uncle Fred, and the darkroom “alchemy” that first made images feel like miracles. Maresca also talks about the tension between appreciating art and needing to possess it, the deep personal logic behind his collection (and new book devoted to it), and why, if he’d followed his father’s advice and become a dentist, none of this—the photography career, the gallery, the book, or this very podcast—would exist.​ If you’re interested in outsider art, collecting, creativity, or simply how one unconventional life comes together, this intimate, often funny, and deeply reflective conversation sets the tone for everything The Russi Hive hopes to be. Original music and sonic identity by Antfood. Sound design: Federico Casazza. Follow The Russi Hive: YouTube Instagram TikTok Substack

    44 min

  4. TRAILER

    The Russi Hive — Official Trailer

    Welcome to The Russi Hive—where we stay with the moment creativity meets the world, and listen to how an idea turns tangible… then keeps changing once it has to exist. Hosted by Alejandra Russi, The Russi Hive was born inside Ricco/Maresca Gallery in New York City—an ecosystem shaped by four decades of refusing hierarchies and blurring the line between vernacular and fine art, impulse and mastery, the established and the overlooked. The guests range from artists, writers, curators, and performers to people you wouldn’t expect: someone whose life is built like a creative practice even if there’s no “product,” or anyone who understands creativity from a completely different angle. New episodes every other Thursday, with bonus episodes and stray creative dispatches in between. Original music and sonic identity by Antfood. Sound design: Federico Casazza. Follow The Russi Hive: YouTube Instagram TikTok Substack

    3 min

Trailer

About

The Russi Hive is a podcast about creativity—unfolding in conversations with expected and unexpected people; not only artists, but anyone with a practice, a system, or an obsession that shapes how they think and live. Presented by Ricco/Maresca and hosted by Alejandra Russi, The Russi Hive is filmed and recorded in the gallery’s New York City space. This show is a place for those drawn to the unseen mechanics of making, the inner weather reports, invented languages, and the way an idea arrives at the "wrong" time and still changes everything.

Information

  • Creator
    Alejandra Russi
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Russi Hive
  • Show Website
    The Russi Hive

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