Unabashedly inappropriate trio of artists reemerges

Sam Morris

Members of the retail art group Ripper Jordan are Sean Slattery, standing, David Ryan, left, and James Hough. Before making affordable art, the trio tried their luck in country music and even moved to Nashville, Tenn. But, Hough says, “it wasn’t something we could put all our resources behind.”

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Monday, June 29, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Ripper Jordan gave us Abe Lincoln muttering, “God, how I hate live theater,” riffs on the F-word, juggling Jesuses and cartoons of the well-known savior uttering colorful phrases about running the world.

The trio of artists burst onto the scene two years ago selling their wares in the Arts District, became widely collected, then disappeared for a year to work on a Ripper Jordan Web site and other projects.

They return Thursday with an opening at Trifecta Gallery, an exhibit that’s a big deal for them and for their fans, many of whom thought they’d disbanded.

But it’s time the truth got out about the guys of Ripper Jordan, known for their Venus Flytraps and old-school cartoon bombs: They have a past that involves country music.

Before riffing on pop culture, race, religion and even office life via laser-cut, hand-painted works, they looked into creating an editorial-free art magazine when they decided instead to write country songs. They even trekked to Nashville, Tenn., to have them professionally recorded and believed they could pull it off.

“Writing country songs would make us millions,” says James Hough, who with Sean Slattery and David Ryan make up Ripper Jordan. “It’s making someone millions.”

But, Hough says, “it wasn’t something we could put all our resources behind, holding down jobs and trying to break through.”

So they turned to what they do best as a team: drinking beer, brainstorming, drawing pictures and laughing. From that came Ripper Jordan, makers of retail art.

Using the name they made up as an ideal country singer’s name, Ripper Jordan came up with a blueprint for commercial success — creating multiples of affordable art, something everyone could buy. Such a brazen ploy is something many artists won’t admit, even though, Ryan says, “I’ve never met an artist who says, ‘I hope it doesn’t sell.’ ”

But Ripper Jordan is a much different undertaking for the friends, serious artists who came from Texas to study with art critic Dave Hickey and graduated from UNLV’s Master of Fine Arts program.

“We like to think of Ripper Jordan as a relief from real art,” Hough says.

Ryan works as a full-time artist who is represented by Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles; Slattery is retail manager for Blue Man Group, Hough is a stay-at-home dad, freelance graphic designer and art preparator.

Ripper Jordan is a business venture. Their Wednesday night brainstorming sessions are legendary among locals who have witnessed the outlandish repartee.

On a recent Wednesday the group was in full production mode, working assembly-line style at Ryan’s studio to get ready for the exhibit.

The exhibit grew from a line of Ripper Jordan pieces that Trifecta owner Marty Walsh began selling a couple of months ago. The full exhibit, which is yet to be named, will have larger original pieces, including a large suite of monochromatic paintings that they took from one of their cartoon illustrations in Vurb Magazine.

The group will unveil multiples of its new characters — basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and a wooden “paper doll” that does tai chi positions.

One of their hot sellers, Venus Flytrap, returns reconfigured, and there will be an assortment of peeled bananas, electrical outlets, birds on toast, grass swatches and reversible paintings of Beethoven.

“We’re expecting it to be dazzling,” Hough says. “You get online or watch TV and you see people who are successful at making interesting things. We think we’re funnier than they are.”

When asked the genesis of Abdul-Jabbar or another work, Slattery says they were born out of one of “those moments,” referring to the sessions where they draw and laugh their way to a piece that is wholly Ripper Jordan.

As for the country songs, Hough says he sometimes plays the recordings around the house.