by Jeroslyn JoVonn
May 21, 2025
Isaac Wright’s solo gallery debut was cut short when the NYPD arrived to arrest him.
Urban explorer photographer Isaac Wright had his solo show debut cut short due to an arrest. One onlooker said, “makes people hate the police even more.”
Just two hours into Wright’s solo debut, “Coming Home,” at the Robert Mann Gallery in New York City’s Chelsea area on May 14, four NYPD officers came in to arrest him, Art News reported. The following day, a police spokesperson confirmed that Wright, the former paratrooper known as “Drift,” was released from custody and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing, a class B misdemeanor under New York State law.
“The opening night was a huge success, drawing tremendous interest and energy from the public,” Robert Mann, the founder of Robert Mann Gallery, said in a statement. “While it was marked by unexpected events, we remain committed to celebrating Isaac’s vision and invite everyone to experience the exhibition first-hand. As history has shown, the art that challenges and confronts is often the art that changes how we see the world.”
Eyewitnesses who attended the opening spotted a suspicious woman “lurking” in the gallery before Wright’s arrest. It was later revealed she was an undercover agent waiting to notify police of the photographer’s presence.
“People were talking about it later like it was a honeypot,” Edward Zipco, cofounder of Superchief Gallery NYC & LA, told NFT News. “Apparently, she was undercover. After about half an hour, she signaled to the police.”
Fellow urban explorer Vitaliy Raskalov attended the opening and said he had “never seen anything like it before.”
“The cops could’ve called him, or gone to his house,” he said. “To arrest the guy at his own exhibition, in front of cameras and everyone, it just makes people hate the police even more.”
Wright is famous for scaling fences and skyscrapers to capture high-altitude photos, including his famed shot from atop New York’s Queensboro Bridge. His recent arrest at the art show isn’t his first, as he was jailed for four months in December 2020 after illegally climbing three structures in Cincinnati.
Police searched across multiple states and even closed a highway to arrest him. Yet, in hindsight, Wright describes his time in jail as a surprisingly freeing experience. Following his 2021 prison release, his artwork began fetching thousands of dollars amid the NFT boom.
“Being locked up turned out to be a gift,” he recently told The New York Times. “It was motivating. I couldn’t understand the freedom I was trying to express until I lost it all and was forced to fight for it.”
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