Through this play with medium and technique, new and old truths about modernity are exposed and exaggerated. We reflexively simulate reality online through constant self-awareness and mediation of our image. Self is malleable center; brands now arbitrate beauty; pop culture personas become brands, their authenticity manipulated by multiple filters and amplified by mass circulation. Ryder Ripps’ portraits become a dissection of, and a subjugated homage to, his empowered subject as he updates the conversation about the place of painting in contemporary culture.