“In the cop car, they even told me they liked the art.” Photographer arrested on trespassing charges at New York gallery opening

Photographer Isaac “Drift” Wright’s work is a dizzying array of urban environments from rarely seen heights, but last week, the photographer’s extreme climbs led to his arrest at the opening of a gallery show in New York.

Wright, who goes by Drift and @drifershoots on Instagram, was reportedly escorted from his first solo gallery show on May 15 by New York police and charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing over a 2024 climb up to the Empire State Building’s spire. The photo taken during that climb hung on the walls at the Robert Mann Gallery, the first time that the image had been displayed publicly.

Wright allegedly passed a locked gate on the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building, leaving the area where tourists are allowed and climbing instead to the building’s spire. There, he captured a dizzying image looking down on the streets of New York City, with his feet braced on the spire. In a video shared to Instagram, the photographer said that he had climbed the spire with one hand because he dropped a glove, and his other hand was too cold.

The incident at the gallery opening wasn’t Wright’s first arrest. He was previously arrested in 2020 and then again in 2021, facing charges of illegal entry and property damage. For those cases, he spent 140 days in jail, but many charges were reduced to misdemeanors.

Last week’s arrest, however, was different for the Cincinnati-born artist and military veteran, who recounted the guns drawn on an earlier arrest. “This time, the cops were very respectful. In the cop car, they even told me they liked the art,” Wright told the New York Times.

Drift added that the police had originally planned to arrest him as soon as he arrived at the gallery, but waited until nearly the end of the opening, which the artist said showed some humanity and an attempt to understand him.

Drift initially began photography as a way to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder while serving in the Army. After being medically discharged, Wright traveled and climbed through several states, initially paying his way by making food deliveries.

The photographs from Wright’s climbs all over the world are currently part of a solo gallery at the Robert Mann Gallery in New York. Called Drift: Coming Home, the gallery show highlights the isolation and scale captured in his work. The show is planned to continue through June 28.

The photographer also announced his first photo book this week, It was Never Dark, a 216-page book that is limited to 1,200 copies.

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