Isaac Wright talks to artnews about being beaten by the police
Urban explorer, Isaac Wright, known professionally as “Al -Ingurf”, was arrested last Thursday by four New York police officers at the opening of the “return home” show at the Robert Man exhibition in Chelsea. He was charged with a third -class criminal assault, a category misdemeanor under New York State Law. Since then he was released on bail.
Alleged crime: the Empire State building and taking a picture, which appeared in the exhibition. It is the fourth time that he has been arrested because of the infringement of the property of others.
Wright is famous for the fences jumping and the skyscrapers scrambled for photography at a height, including shots from the top of the Qinsburo Bridge in New York. He was feature by New York Times On May 10, before his fateful show, he was previously imprisoned for four months in December 2020 to illegally climb it three structures in Cincinnati. The police have searched several states and closed a quick way to arrest him.
“Back to the homeland” is the first individual exhibition exhibition in New York City.
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“The opening night has achieved great success, as it attracted great attention and energy from the audience,” said Robert Man, founder of Robert Man. ARTNEWS By email. “Despite its distinction with unexpected events, we are still committed to celebrating the vision of Isaac and the invitation of everyone to experience the exhibition directly. As history showed, the art that challenges and confronts is the art that changes how we see the world.”
Wright spoke to ARTNEWS About being beaten on his big night in front of 400 exhibition pioneers, why does he risk his life for photography, and how art helps his mental health.
This interview was released with a slightly taken and clearly taken.
ARTNEWS: Reports say that there is a secret policeman in your offer last Thursday before you were arrested. Is this correct?
Isaac Wright: Yes, he looked out of the place. I thought he might have been quietly watching art. He was not talking to anyone. He was constantly looking at different pieces for more than two hours. A kind of strange, but I had no reason to suspect that I would be arrested. No one told me that there was an order to arrest his arrest. I didn’t know anything. I was only there to open.
So you do not have any idea that the police were after you?
no. I was completely shocked. They arrested me when I was in the middle of the participants with some people who were there looking at my art. I heard a voice behind me saying: “Mr. Wright, we will need you to put your hands behind your back.” I thought he was a friend messing around with me, and that she was a joke. Then I turned and saw four policemen standing there. Two were in secrecy, and the other two were wearing NYPD. It was very strange, but it was not violent or supercular, as I used to. Each time I was arrested in Arizona, Ouhayu and Kentucky, there were about 10 armed policemen. You are always unarmed. But this time it was more civil. When I was in the back of the police car, they told me they planned to arrest me at the beginning of the night, but they loved my art to the point that they waited a few hours so that I could enjoy this occasion.
the New York Times You mentioned that you were arrested to climb the Empire State building …
I had not fell climbing the building, and it was alleged that it had happened some time ago. It is an open condition, so I can’t really talk about it, but I led to the belief that publishing the photo (Empire (2024), taken from the top of the Empire State) on Instagram for months, which caused the police to be arrested. The relevant image was included in my cross at the Robert Man Show.
Why do you think that the police waited until the opening of your offer to arrest you?
I partially think that making a statement, but I want to give them the benefit of doubt. The police told me that because I still had a address outside the state, they set me in the exhibition because they knew that I had a fixed position. They were very kind to me, the policemen were not fair in detention, they were only making their jobs.
Will it be fair to say that the police in fact have you ever provided your opening at the Robert Man exhibition a lot of media interest?
Somehow, yes. But I must be introduction and say I am tired of paying attention to wrong reasons. If you are prolific in any other field, such as drawing, sculpture or any other type of photography, I will be much more than that. My work is beautiful, it’s great, it’s a pioneer, and I hope to challenge the way we see the world. I hope that this will challenge the way we look at the world at a time when the physical and challenge agency disrupts. I want my work to challenge the systems and systems of beliefs and make viewers think. There is not enough contemporary art that includes artists who have all their skin in the game.
Do you have to break the law to create your work?
Unless the buildings begin to curve access …
Did you have any close mistakes while scaling the buildings that made you wonder what you are doing?
You are talking to me in a big transitional period. I have not been taken out of the climb for months. I am in a stage I want to make major changes with a technician in general. I don’t want to waste my work in the noise. I think my work is very historical. I think it will have a clear place in the history of contemporary art, and that when people look behind art what I am already saying, and what I went through for work, if you look at all legal situations, I still created the work group despite everything I was facing. Any other artists can say that if they face 50 years in prison, they will continue their work. I clearly have something to say more than that I would like to be in long things.
I have said that photography helps in your mental health. How important is this for you?
I was diagnosed with the first pole in 2023. I was also suffering from post -trauma, depression and obsession after leaving the army. It became much worse after I went through with the police in Arizona, when they closed the highway to arrest me. This was a painful experience. I started experimenting with memory loss. I began to suffer from a mood of vibration. I am a person who feels things violently and intense. Photography such as vents. When I create something, it completely extinguishes my mind. This is the best thing. Anytime I create a job, I feel this is a version of the energy I have in my head. As an artist, your art helps you to understand madness. There are many artists who suffer from a very nervous era. I am one of them. I am nervous violently, so getting something can be amazing. To be a painful imprisonment for anyone, but how the police were treated for three armed arrests. I am also black. I don’t want to make the race the central thing here, but I just want to put it there. But I live in America and survive three armed arrests, as they are unarmed, with my military background, being young, black … statistically, I could have ended well. They threatened to put me away for 50 years. All this to climb buildings and take pictures. It just does not add up. meaningless.
Any plans to explore different technical means in the future?
I am really interested in branching to multimedia work with a photographic base. I want to enter more filmmaking, and it will be great to know how to draw. There is a lot that I want to express, but whatever I do, I know that he will challenge and change the world. I think I will look at this show at the Robert Man Gallery as a pioneer and determine his profession. Art must be about challenging public opinion and creating speech.
