Latest news with #RobertMannGallery
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.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Colerain Township native and renowned photographer arrested at NYC gallery exhibition
Colerain Township native and daredevil photographer Isaac Wright was arrested May 15 at the end of his first solo gallery exhibition in New York City, his lawyer said. Wright, known as Drift online, was escorted out of the Robert Mann Gallery in Chelsea just after 8 p.m., when his show was scheduled to end. His lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, told The Enquirer that Wright is charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing. The Enquirer has requested more information about the arrest, but photos from Wright's climb up the spire of the Empire State Building were displayed at the exhibition. Chaudhry said the opening for the exhibition, called "Coming Home," was packed shoulder to shoulder, but several people noticed a woman who arrived at the beginning and stayed the whole time. Just after 8 p.m., the woman tapped him on the shoulder and informed him that he was under arrest, Chaudhry said, then several uniformed officers came in. Wright can be seen on cellphone video being escorted out of the building wearing a tuxedo and black bow tie. Chaudhry said at the police precinct, Wright was released with no bond, which is called a desk appearance ticket in New York. She said he's scheduled to be back in court on June 4. Wright, who graduated from Colerain High School and went on to serve in the U.S. Army, was arrested on charges in Cincinnati as well. After he made photographs 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. Chaudhry said it seems like the officers who arrested Wright seem to have been touched by his art. She said the officers were kind and very respectful during the May 15 arrest. "This all began because the cops couldn't understand him," Chaudhry said. "They saw him as a weapon. These officers saw him as an artist and a person." This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Daredevil photographer Isaac Wright arrested at NYC gallery exhibition
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
