Latest news with #IsaacWright
Hindustan Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Who is Isaac Wright? Popular photographer arrested after years of scaling NYC buildings
Isaac Wright- a photographer known for trapezing New York City's skyline for the perfect camera clicks- found himself in a sticky situation on May 15 when a group of undercover police officers showed up to his first gallery opening to arrest him for the very art so many people were present to appreciate him for. Known for his daring clicks and fresh perspectives, this is not Wright's first rodeo with the law. From the expanse of the Queensboro Bridge to the heights of the Empire State Building, Wright has captured it all. Armed with a camera in hand and grit in heart, most of Wright's best-selling pictures have much to do with him climbing the most scathing buildings in the city and delivering pictures from heights that only few could ever dream of reaching. However, with the regard and respect bound to flow in from his daring work, this urban climber has a tendency to invite trouble as well. Having served as a paratrooper in the US Army, many believe that Wright's affinity for risk came as a result of the depression he faced after being stationed at an army base in Louisiana. Since 2018, he has taken it upon himself to do what most people can't- a silent but steady way of fighting the system on his own terms. Though thrilling to see in spirit, Wright's adventures have an affinity of playing with the lines of legality as well. The famed photographer spent four months in prison way back in 2020 following a massive inter-city manhunt to capture the person responsible for trespassing three structures in Cincinnati by illegally climbing them. The hunt involved the police foraging several states and even shutting down an entire highway to capture the 'mastermind'. Following his release, Wright chose to turn to legal means for a change and started selling his pictures online on NFT- a move that added $10 million to his bank account. Despite being shrouded in controversy, his work started demanding the attention of high-rollers and urban aspirants alike, leading to his first solo exhibition 'Coming Home' at the Robert Mann Gallery in Manhattan. Wright's efforts to legitimise and ground his artwork in more traditional settings suffered a major blow when plainclothes officers at his debut exhibition made a discreet arrest at the end of the night. The charges came as a result of his continued passion for scaling buildings illegally, the most recent of which involved the iconic Empire State Building. This involved a 2024 incident where Wright took the tourist elevator to the 102nd floor and managed to slip past security cameras to take a picture of the skyline right from the pier of one of New York's tallest structures. 'I was just completely stunned,' said Mr Robert Mann, the owner of the gallery. 'Ansel Adams probably trespassed in his day to get a great photo; plenty of photographers did. But in all my years, I have never seen an artist taken out of an opening in cuffs.' Vitaliy Raskalov, a fellow urban climber and photographer, remarked, 'Sixteen years of exploring, so many exhibitions, I've never seen anyone get arrested at an exhibition. It's nonsense.' The cops, however, claimed that since Mr Wright lived out of town, his ensured attendance on that fateful night mandated the arrest. Wright, however, following his release the next day, was willing to cut some more slack to those in uniform. 'They waited until the night was pretty much over. They gave me that. For the first time, someone tried to understand who I was and show some humanity. I was never offered that before, and I really appreciate it,' he said. The display remains on in the Robert Mann Gallery till June 28.
Hypebeast
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Photographer "Drift" Arrested at His Exhibition Opening
Summary Isaac Wright, known as 'Drift,' was arrested at his own art show in Chelsea last Thursday night. Just two hours into the opening, NYPD officers entered theRobert Mann Galleryand took him into custody on charges of third-degree a former Army paratrooper, gained notoriety for climbing skyscrapers and restricted sites to capture high-altitude photographs. His work, often shot from dangerous heights like the Queensboro Bridge or the Empire State Building, earned him both a social media following albeit multiple legal run-ins. According toArtnews, witnesses said an undercover officer blended into the crowd before signaling the arrest. 'They could've picked him up at home,' said fellow climber Vitaliy Raskolov to the publication. 'Doing it here just fuels more distrust.' Wright previously served four months in jail in 2020 after evading police across several states. Since his release in 2021, he's found financial success through NFT sales but continued climbing despite it violating his probation. His first solo show, titledComing Home, was meant to mark a new chapter but it ended with handcuffs. Wright was released the next day. CatchComing Homeat Robert Mann Gallery through June 28. Robert Mann Gallery508 W 26th St Suite 9FNew York, NY 10001
New York Times
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Artist Known for Scaling Buildings Was Arrested at His Show's Opening
When four men dressed like police officers showed up at a gallery opening in Manhattan on Thursday night and handcuffed the star of a solo exhibition, the photographer Isaac Wright, many in the crowd assumed it was some kind of stunt — a wry, Banksy-esque nod to the fact that Mr. Wright had been arrested many times for illicitly climbing buildings to make photos. It wasn't a stunt. Plain clothes officers of the New York Police Department had been working the gallery in Chelsea for hours. The uniformed officers they called in were all too real. The police were pursuing Mr. Wright, who goes by the name Drift, after he recently climbed the Empire State Building. They put him in the back of a squad car and booked him for misdemeanor criminal trespass. Mr. Wright, who is Black, had hoped the opening of his first solo gallery show would be a coda ending years of legal turmoil. He had started climbing buildings and making photos in 2018 as a way to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in the Army, and had scaled famous structures all over the world. At the time, police had pegged him as a dangerous criminal, went after him with weapons drawn — they once shut down miles of interstate highway to arrest him — and filed felony charges that could have put him in prison for decades. Those cases had been resolved. His art career had blossomed. The night of the opening at the Robert Mann Gallery, Mr. Wright had put on a tuxedo and was working the crowd — a mix of wealthy art collectors and ragtag urban explorers — when a plain clothes officer told him to put his hands behind his back. 'I really thought it was a joke,' said Mr. Wright, 29, in an interview on Friday after he was released from jail. 'At least this time they didn't point a gun at my chest.' The charges likely stem from a recent climb, Mr. Wright said, when he took the tourist elevator to the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building, then slipped past security cameras and a locked gate that led to the skyscraper's spire. He climbed hand over hand until he was straddling the blinking red light at the top, 1,250 feet above the pavement. The evidence was on the wall: A vertigo-inducing photo from that climb hung in the gallery. Its owner, Robert Mann, was standing near it, chatting with collectors when he said police came in and left with his artist. 'I was just completely stunned,' said Mr. Mann, who has represented seminal photographers, including Robert Frank and Ansel Adams. 'Ansel Adams probably trespassed in his day to get a great photo, plenty of photographers did. But in all my years, I have never seen an artist taken out of an opening in cuffs.' The police department confirmed the arrest but did not respond to requests for additional comment. After the police left, a small crowd of fellow building climbers who had shown up for the opening were similarly dumbfounded, according to a video shot by one of them. 'It's crazy,' a well-known climber named Vitaliy Raskalov who has held similar gallery exhibits of his photography in Europe, told the others, shaking his head. 'Sixteen years of exploring, so many exhibitions, I've never seen anyone get arrested at an exhibition. It's nonsense.' In a perverse way, though, Mr. Wright said on Friday that his latest arrest is progress. 'I had always been treated as some sort of dangerous weapon for what I do, even though I had never hurt anyone,' he said Friday. 'This time, the cops were very respectful. In the cop car, they even told me they liked the art.' He said the police had told him their initial plan was to arrest him as soon as he showed up at the gallery. But once they were there, and saw the room of vivid prints, and the gathering of friends, family and admirers, they held off for an hour, then another. 'The waited until the night was pretty much over. They gave me that,' he said. 'For the first time, someone tried to understand who I was and show some humanity. I was never offered that before, and I really appreciate it.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cincinnati's daredevil photographer who spawned nationwide manhunt opens gallery in NYC
The photographer who faced a year-long court battle in Cincinnati after taking pictures from some of the highest skyscrapers in the city is showing his work in New York this month. Colerain Township native and Army veteran Isaac Wright, known online as "Drift," has an exhibition at the Robert Mann Gallery opening May 15. Shortly after leaving the military, Wright began making a name for himself by scaling some of the highest structures in the country to create his vertigo-inducing imagery. But after he made photos from the top of Great American Tower at Queen City Square without permission, he became the subject of a nationwide manhunt. It was a sheriff's department in Arizona that arrested him. Deputies swarmed on his car with rifles drawn, helicopter hovering above. But it's not even clear if they knew why he was wanted. Back in Cincinnati, prosecutors said "stealth and deception" were Wright's trademarks as they attempted to hold him in jail on a $400,000 bond. Nearly a year after his arrest, Wright was sentenced to treatment in lieu of conviction. But during that time, Wright went from an artist with a decent Instagram following to one of the top-selling photographers in the world. He took some of the profits from those sales and donated $500,000 to The Bail Project to be used in Hamilton County to post bonds for non-violent offenders who cannot afford it. During another trip home, he was invited by the CEO of Fifth Third Bank to live stream his artistic process from the top of their building on Fountain Square. His new show, "Coming Home," opens May 15 at the Robert Mann Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The show includes the first-ever public display of his photograph taken from the spire of the Empire State Building, along with images from around the country and the world. "For me, climbing isn't about adrenaline, it's clarity," Wright said. "Above the noise, you feel invisible and infinite. I've been hunted, locked up, written off, but my art gave me a way forward. This show is my first time putting that journey on a wall." The Robert Mann Gallery has expanded its space to accommodate the show. According to a press release, this exhibition is "more than a gallery debut, it's the culmination of a life reclaimed, a city reimagined, and a lens fixed firmly on the impossible." The show's opening reception is May 15 from 6-8 p.m. "Coming Home" will be on display in Chelsea until June 30. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Daredevil photographer who spawned nationwide manhunt opens NY gallery
New York Times
11-05-2025
- New York Times
A Veteran Who Kept Climbing, and Kept in Touch
It's rare that I write about anyone twice. I write about the military for The New York Times, and a lot of that work focuses on how a massive bureaucracy with a uniquely violent mission can sometimes mash apart the lives of the people who wear the uniform. Usually, the best-case scenario is that my reporting shines a light, stops the harm, and the people I've focused on can go back to living their lives. Isaac Wright was different, because the life he went back to living was so remarkable. That's why I have written an article about him for the Arts & Leisure section, nearly four years after I first wrote an article about him. The first time I spoke to Mr. Wright, in 2021, he had been out of jail a few hours and there was a chance he was going to prison for a few decades. He was a 25-year-old Army veteran who had learned that climbing skyscrapers and bridges, and taking stunning photographs from the top, gave him the sense of peace and meaning that he needed after a traumatic time in the military. He climbed dozens of structures all over the country. But he was facing multiple felony charges because the authorities saw his escapades not as a practice in self-realization, but as a danger to the public. When I wrote about that situation four years ago, I was unsure how it would end. I suspected that the legal system would realize he was a nonviolent offender with a clean record, and give him probation. But probation would probably mean no more climbing, and possibly even mandatory therapy aimed at persuading him that climbing was an illness. It was a better option than prison, but I couldn't help but feel sad at the prospect of seeing a light that burned so brightly snuffed out by the system. Two years after the first article, Mr. Wright, who goes by the name Drift — a piece of his online handle, @DrifterShoots — texted me out of the blue, asking, 'Did you happen to see the crazy double rainbow New York City saw the other day?' Then he sent me a picture: A double rainbow streaking across a bruised, moody sky, with the sun illuminating the buildings of Midtown Manhattan. In the photo, above the cityscape was a figure, looking not much bigger than a grain of rice, climbing toward the top of an impossibly narrow spire. It was Mr. Wright. He had sneaked to the top of The Times's headquarters, free-climbed the antenna that soars from the roof and was texting me about it. Mr. Wright had nearly all of his cases reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed, and he completed a probation. And he had decided, fully aware of the legal risks and against the advice of family, friends and his lawyer, to keep climbing. In fact, he was climbing more than ever. Now the story had come home, and he was on the roof of my employer's building. Over the next couple of years, I saw photos on his Instagram from Norway, Brazil, France, Egypt, China, of him always perched on some hard-to-reach, illicit spot, unapologetically doing his thing. It made me glad. I began to realize that the article from 2021 that ended with Mr. Wright facing jail was no longer the full story. I learned this spring that he was having a gallery opening in May in Manhattan, and knew it was a chance to tell the next part of his story: how a nearly disastrous brush with the law that might have caused other people to step back led to his stepping forward. He continued to do what he loved, fully aware of the very real dangers posed by both law enforcement and gravity. In April, I met Mr. Wright, now 29, at his new studio, a former horse stable in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where his huge prints, which sell for thousands of dollars, leaned against the walls. We spent most of a day talking about how he went from a 23-hour lockdown to an art career. He eventually led me up an old staircase to the roof where we looked out at the Manhattan skyline, and he tried to explain why, despite all the risks, he never stopped climbing. 'When I was locked up, they tried to destroy the most precious thing — how I see myself. The police, the prosecutor, the psychologists all thought there was something wrong with me,' he told me. 'But that turned out to be a gift. It forced me to question everything I was doing, and why, and what I would sacrifice to keep doing it. And I realized it was exactly what I was meant to do.' As I typed up the profile, it occurred to me how often journalists write about the worst days in a person's life, but rarely write about how each person gets to decide how those experiences shape all the days that come after. I was writing about Mr. Wright's photographs, but I realized how he framed his own life was the real art.
