An apparent threatening message has raised concerns for the Saturday opening of “HO,” an exhibition by the artist Ryder Ripps at Postmasters gallery in Manhattan. The anonymous note, allegedly sent by email to Ripps early on the morning of January 18, accuses the artist of “acting foolishly lately… misogynistic, offensive, flippant, insensitive, not thoughtful.” The message — which the artist posted on social media — continues: “You need to be taught a lesson, and several people are orchestrating it,” promising promising “highly embarrassing” nonviolent action “outside your opening at some point in the evening next week.”
“I don’t understand why they don’t want to talk, why are they hiding, and why they are anonymous,” Ripps told us earlier today. The artist claims to have contacted the FBI over the issue and has shared with us his reply to the senders, reproduced in full below.
Labeled a “consummate Internet cool kid” in a New York Times profile last year, Ripps attracted the ire of some in the Internet art community in November 2014 with a project titled “ART WHORE,” carried out at an Ace Hotel residency, that involved hiring individuals advertising on the Craigslist “casual encounters” section to draw art; the artist said the piece was about the commodification of artistic labor “in today’s attention economy.” The furor provoked included a two-part denunciation of the piece from the influential Internet art organization Rhizome, which had supported the artist’s practice in the past, as well as critical blog coverage and social media comments.
“It’s not what art is about, art is about having no rules and pursuing ideas on an individual basis; art is not a hockey team,” Ripps said of the vitriol directed at his work. He identified the recent threat, signed by “Ryder’s Regret Committee,” as possibly having been influenced by the negative attention arising from the Ace Hotel project. “Several institutions — Rhizome and a bunch of blogs — gave people the green light to hate me. That’s the way it works, McCarthy-era shit — that’s the way you get people to go to war,” Ripps said. “There were so many articles that totally slandered me, it’s clickbait journalism… It’s a lynch mob.”
For the gallery’s part, Magda Sawon and her partner Tamas Banovich of Postmasters have printed a “free speech zone” sign that they intend to hang in the gallery window. Sawon would not comment beyond stating that the note “sounds pretty sophomoric and misguided.” The artist is also not especially concerned about a physical threat. “There’s a police station around the corner. If anything goes down they [the gallery] will call the police; a lot of my friends will be there,” Ripps said.
The authenticity of the message, though reviewed by an Artinfo reporter Wednesday, could not be independently confirmed. Ripps has “some suspicions,” as to the identity of the sender, but would not name any culprits, stating that he “wouldn’t take the liberty to point fingers.” (An email sent to the address from which the note was apparently sent did not receive a response as of press time.) Ripps also noted that he erroneously believed the Guerrilla Mail account to be associated with the Guerilla Girls, hence the reference to the feminist art collective in his reply, but it is in fact an unrelated service offering anonymous, encrypted, and temporary accounts.
The email sent by Ripps in response to the threat follows below:
On Jan 18, 2015, at 6:45 AM, Ryder Ripps <[address redacted]> wrote:
Hello there,
Thanks for the intimidation note… i guess..
Please offer me an alternative to my show and if its good maybe we can go with that.
I have yet to be convinced of any wrong doing based on your labels – they seem to be merely name calling without much backing.
There are lots of offensive things in the world, not to assert that my work is particularly offensive, yet I find it interesting that you are singling me out.
Here are a bunch of stories about actual misogynistic men, https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=man+kills+wife&tbm=nws, i wonder if you are going after them too?
Out of curiosity, have u ever seen this show? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park they have some questionable content I’d be interested to get your thoughts on.
Also, why are you emailing from an anonymous account?
I dont know if you are affiliated with the Guerrilla Girls (deducing from your email), but if u are, i’d like you to know that i very much support your message. When i was 8 years old I gave this to my mom as a birthday present, http://instagram.com/p/veX6WMS0×5/?modal=true
Anyways, perhaps it would be more productive to have a human discussion instead of just sending me scary threats? I can’t imagine that you would appreciate getting threats such as this sent to you..
I have 0 anger here.
Let me know if you would like to talk like people and maybe I can help, or at least try to?
CCed is my Gallerist Magda Swanson, my good friend Marcella who is helping with the show, my mom Helene who has been involved with the feminist movement and art for over 30 years and my best friend Brad who is a public defender in Miami. Hopefully we can have a productive discussion as a group.
I’d like to get this discussion going soon just because I am a bit scared. If I dont hear from you shortly I will report your threat to the FBI.
Best,
Ryder
PS – When Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanas it only helped Warhol’s career, so if you are considering shooting me I think I will be able to come to terms with this. Just please don’t hit any vital organs, it would be bad for you too because a murder charge is far worse than an assault with a deadly weapon charge. My friend Brad the Lawyer will be able to weigh in on this.
— Mostafa Heddaya (@mheddaya)
Additional reporting by Scott Indrisek (@indrisek)
(Photo: Scott Indrisek)
