RYDER RIPPS
Ho
January 24 - February 28, 2015
Ryder Ripps' first solo exhibition, titled Ho, will open on January 24th at Postmasters Gallery in New York.
The show will feature large scale oil paintings, portraits once removed, derived from the Instagram of model
Adrianne Ho (300,000 followers).
Ripps (6,000 followers) transforms self-portraits Adrianne Ho posts online
into expressive, highly distorted pictures. Ho's carefully staged, posed and styled photos are digitally
processed, then painted. In creating striking, warped images Ripps strains techniques that are commonplace
in the fashion industry to make models appear more "attractive" to the point of abstraction.
Abstract passages referencing the heroic gestures of the Action Painters are generated through fingers moving
across the decidedly unheroic touchscreen- the new site of aggression and anxiety in the age of the "virtual
male gaze", where the archetypal macho painter has been emasculated.
Through this play with medium and technique, new and old truths about modernity are exposed and exaggerated.
We reflexively simulate reality online through constant self-awareness and mediation of our image. Self is
malleable center; brands now arbitrate beauty; pop culture personas become brands, their authenticity
manipulated by multiple filters and amplified by mass circulation. Ryder Ripps' portraits become a
dissection of, and a subjugated homage to, his empowered subject as he updates the conversation about
the place of painting in contemporary culture.
Ryder Ripps is a 28 year old conceptual artist living in New York City. He was recently profiled by the New York Times:
Mr. Ripps...artist, programmer and creative director, is the consummate Internet cool kid, as fluent in HTML and
JavaScript as in the language of conceptual art...
- Adrian Chen, The New York Times
Ryder Ripps
Ho
installation view
Ryder Ripps
Heater
2014
oil on canvas
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm)
Ryder Ripps
Nose Reflection
2014
oil on canvas
2 panels
96 x 96 inches (244 x 244 cm) each
Ryder Ripps
Swim
2014
oil on canvas
2 panels
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm) each
Ryder Ripps
Gettin' Ready
2014
oil on canvas
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm)
Ryder Ripps
Punch
2014
oil on canvas
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm)
Ryder Ripps
Hourglass
2014
oil on canvas
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm)
Ryder Ripps
Drink
2014
oil on canvas
2 panels
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm) each
Ryder Ripps
Mona Lisa
2014
oil on canvas
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm)
Ryder Ripps
Sippy
2014
oil on canvas
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm)
Ryder Ripps
SUP
2014
oil on canvas
72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm)