Ryder Ripps

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ryder Ripps
Born (1986-07-07) July 7, 1986 (age 35)
New York City, U.S.
Alma materThe New School
Notable work
  • Art Whore
  • Ho
Style
Parents
Websiteryder-ripps.com

Ryder Ripps (born July 7, 1986) is an American conceptual artist, programmer, and creative director.[1][2]

Early life and education[]

Ryder Ripps is the son of artist Rodney Ripps and designer Helene Verin. He studied at Eugene Lang College and The New School for Liberal Arts in New York City.[2]

Career[]

Commercial work[]

Ripps is the creative director of OKFocus, a digital marketing and design agency and has developed content for a number of contemporary musicians, fashion lines,[citation needed] and corporate brands like Nike and Red Bull.[2]

Ripps has created several websites, including Internet Archeology, Dump.fm, and VFiles.[3][4][2] In 2013, Ripps created the branding for Soylent, an open source meal replacement drink.[5] In 2015, he co-produced two songs on Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz.[6] In 2018, Ripps began working with Kanye West as a part of West's company DONDA.[7][8][9]

In 2020, Ripps provided creative direction and design for Pop Smoke's posthumous record, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. Controversy surrounding the album's cover artwork was generated after designer Virgil Abloh presented his design on Instagram. Abloh explained in the body of the post that he had based the design on a conversation he had with Pop Smoke prior to his death.[10] In his own Instagram post, Ripps took credit for initially presenting the rose concept and accused Abloh of both misappropriating and mishandling the design. Pop Smoke's mother, whom Ripps credits as the project's primary creative director, collaborated with Ripps on the cover's final design.[11]

Since 2019, Ripps has directed a number of music videos, and contributed photographs and designs to album artwork and advertising campaigns for Grimes (Miss Anthropocene),[11] James Blake,[12][13] and Travis Scott.[14] Ripps acted as a creative director for pop musician Zara Larsson until he was publicly fired on March 13, 2021, after he body-shamed Larsson in private messages with Azealia Banks, calling her "Zara Armsson".[15]

Art work[]

Ripps's fine art practice is described as "art that uses online avenues to expose how social media can amplify narcissism and fear."[16] He was listed in the Forbes "30 under 30" in 2016.[17]

In a 2014 piece titled Art Whore (stylized in all caps) the Ace Hotel in New York asked Ripps to be an artist-in-residence for one night.[18] With a $50 budget, Ripps hired two sensual masseurs from Craigslist to draw in a hotel room, with Ripps comparing this to his own exploitation as an artist.[9] The project sparked outcry, principally online, "for what they saw as blatant exploitation of women in the sex industry" even though one of the erotic masseurs was male.[16][19] Critic Paddy Johnson declared it one of the most offensive exhibitions of the year and Rhizome described it as "unthinking, unethical, and dull", but also that "Ripps acted in a way that was ethically unsound: It reinforced and did not interrogate inequitable power relationships."[18][20][21] In an interview, Ripps admits he regretted the title he chose.[19]

Ripps' first solo exhibition took place in January 2015 at Postmasters Gallery in New York City, titled Ho. It featured large-scale oil painted portraits of digitally manipulated images from the Instagram account of model Adrianne Ho.[16][22] The show "engages with the ways in which we portray women, tapping into the long history of the manipulation of images in the name of sex and advertisement."[22] However, reception was varied, with Sandra Song of Jezebel writing that "his series is a visceral, knee-jerk way of removing and distorting a vision of female empowerment", and also notes the title of the show is a double entendre, as "ho" is slang for prostitute.[23][24]

In 2016, Ripps exhibited Barbara Lee, an ode to the representative in Congress featuring 50,000 images downloaded from the internet covering a maquette of the Twin Towers at Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles.[25][26]

In May 2017, Ripps premiered a small installation at the Venice Biennale titled Diventare Schiavo (Become a Slave) and featuring VR works, where the public was invited to virtually pack boxes.[27][28] One writer remarked: "Here, laborious task becomes spectacle, while critiquing the socio-economic hierarchies of such technology."[29]

In 2018, Ripps, in collaboration with photographer Maggie West, exhibited Pornhub Nation, a large interactive installation sponsored by Pornhub. The exhibition depicts a future history of the porn site's own government. It provided parodied solutions to the topics of climate change, military occupation, governmental surveillance, and space exploration.[30][31]

In January of 2021, Ripps claimed authorship of the Central Intelligence Agency's redesigned logo. The "Art prankster" in an interview with GQ explains: "Social online platforms are games that are played within the attention economy—authorship and sincerity are murky..."[32] On January 5th, 2021, a CIA spokesperson denied Ripps' involvement in the redesign.[33]

Solo exhibitions[]

  • 2015 - Ho, Postmasters, New York
  • 2015 - Alone Together, Red Bull Studios, New York[34]
  • 2016 - Barbara Lee, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
  • 2017 - Diventare Schiavo (Become a Slave), Zuecca Projects, Venice Italy

Personal life[]

In February 2021, Ripps and musician Azealia Banks announced their engagement.[35][36] They made an audio sex tape and sold it using NFT, which was then up for resale for $260 million.[37] By March, Banks announced they had split up.[38]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Chen, Adrian (July 8, 2014). "Ryder Ripps: An Artist of the Internet". The New York Times. p. E6. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Ryder Ripps: An Artist of the Internet". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "Internet Archaeology: Behold the Most Hilarious Abandoned Websites". Wired.
  4. ^ "Rhizome - Introducing: dump.fm". Rhizome.
  5. ^ "Soylent". Dieline. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  6. ^ "Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz Credits".
  7. ^ "Meet OkFocus, the PR Stuntmen Behind the Fake Kanye West Site WhoDat.Biz". Observer. March 28, 2012. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  8. ^ "Collaborators". Paper. September 24, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Specter, Emma (September 18, 2018). "Who Is Ryder Ripps, Conceptual Artist and Kanye's DM Buddy?". Garage Vice. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  10. ^ Shifferaw, Abel (June 30, 2020). "Virgil Abloh-Designed Cover Art for Pop Smoke's Debut Album to Be Changed Following Backlash (UPDATE)". Complex. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Yoo, Noah. "Pop Smoke's Album Cover: The Story Behind the Last-Minute Switch". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  12. ^ Johnson, Patrick (October 14, 2020). "James Blake Releases New Four-Track 'Before' EP". Hypebeast. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  13. ^ Skelton, Eric (November 30, 2020). "James Blake Can Do Anything". Complex. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  14. ^ Johnson, Patrick (May 14, 2020). "Travis Scott Releases New "THE SCOTTS" Lost Cover Vinyl". Hypebeast. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  15. ^ Malivindi, Diandra (March 15, 2021). "Zara Larsson Publicly Fires Creative Director After He Brutally Body-Shamed Her To Azealia Banks". Elle. Australia. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c Freeman, Nate (January 23, 2015). "The Trial of Ryder Ripps: An Embattled Artist on Haters, Angry Muses, and Threats". Observer. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  17. ^ "30 Under 30 2016: Art & Style". Forbes. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b Tsjeng, Zing (November 12, 2014). "Ryder Ripps' 'ART WHORE' stirs controversy in art world". Dazed. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Vartanian, Hrag (November 15, 2014). "50 Shades of Art Whoredom". Hyperallergic. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  20. ^ Kimball, Whitney (November 11, 2014). "Ryder Ripps's "ART WHORE" In the Running For Most Offensive Project of 2014". Art F City. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  21. ^ "Bodies on the Line". Rhizome. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b Dafoe, Taylor (March 5, 2015). "Ryder Ripps, Ho". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  23. ^ Song, Sandra. "Petty Man Builds Art Career By Shitting on Fitness Star Adrianne Ho". Jezebel. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  24. ^ "ho - Wiktionary". Wiktionary. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  25. ^ Gleeson, Bridget (November 3, 2016). "Ryder Ripps Takes on Our Clickbait Culture with 50,000 Tiny Images". Artsy. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  26. ^ "Ryder Ripps - Barbara Lee". Steve Turner. October 2016.
  27. ^ Barnes, Freire (June 9, 2017). "Things Get Interactive at This year's Venice Biennale". The Culture Trip.
  28. ^ Dakinah, Keven (May 17, 2017). "Ryder Ripps Turns Instagram into Virtual Reality". iD Vice.
  29. ^ Barnes, Freire. "Things Get Interactive at This Year's Venice Biennale". Culture Trip. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  30. ^ "Artists Ryder Ripps and Maggie West Teamed Up With Pornhub to Create an Interactive Sci-Fi Installation Set in 2069". artnet News. June 14, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  31. ^ "Pornhub announces Pornhub Nation, a new, uh, 'interactive art' exhibit". Yahoo!. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  32. ^ Tashjian, Rachel. "No, an Art Prankster Isn't Responsible for the CIA Redesign". GQ. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  33. ^ "The CIA's Hip New Logo Was Not Actually Designed by Grimes and Kanye West Collaborator Ryder Ripps". Exclaim!. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  34. ^ "Alone Together". 21st Century Digital Art. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  35. ^ "Wet Paint: Artist Ryder Ripps and Azealia Banks Go Public as a Couple, Artist Accused of Stealing From His Mentor, & More Art-World Gossip". Artnet News. February 12, 2021. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  36. ^ Halabian, Layla (February 23, 2021). "Azealia Banks Is Engaged to Artist Ryder Ripps". Nylon. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  37. ^ "Azealia Banks and Ryder Ripps' NFT sex tape is being resold for over $260 million by the anonymous RultonFyder". Yahoo! News. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  38. ^ "Azealia Banks and artist Ryder Ripps have ended their relationship". Yahoo! Finance. Canada. Retrieved March 19, 2021.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""