Archive of 2025 | Dean Ripa's Legacy

June 2025

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Dean's Paintings

Dean was a prolific painter and studied under Salvador Dali. One of several of my paintings in the collection of William S. Burroughs (image courtesy Estate of William S. Burroughs). This one I painted after living with voodooists in Haiti in the mid-1980s. The title is "Phantom Limbs" and the black, dead, spontaneously amputating arm is reminiscent of the necrotic effects of fer-de-lance bite, a fact I did not even notice until William pointed it out to me, after buying the painting to hang in his living room. Thus I was subconsciously channeling my future snakebites, in South America, Asia, and Africa. The image depicts a demonic paroxysm of hideous self-awareness. Phantom Limbs

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Living With The…

Living with the Animals is an anthology of articles collected by Gary Indiana . . . A lantern-lit walk through the backwoods of your soul, with the creatures you live beside: dogs, birds, ghosts, in fur and scale, and in Dean's case, snakes! Showcasing these various critters as the key mirror for your own wild heart. The articles don't just talk about animals; they conjure them like spirits at the edge of a campfire. Just as there is nothing more American than motherhood, apple pie, and a Sunday drive to nowhere after church, There is nothing more natural and supernatural than the way each voice testifies with part reverence and part reckoning, as if to live with an animal is to court the mystery of your own nature. "Confessions of a Gaboon Viper Lover" by Dean Ripa is a haunting, poetic essay that transforms an account of a venomous snake into a meditation on beauty, danger, and the complex layers of human attachment. Also Check out William S Burrough's contribution to this…

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Dean's Obituary

Dean's obituary was simple, sweet, and to the point, which belies the man who is honored in those few words. "Burial arrangements under the direction of Oleander Memorial Gardens." Dean's Online Obituary LARRY DEAN RIPA 60 died May 13, 2017. Service held 3 PM 6/11/17 at Cape Fear Christian Church. Reception 5 PM Following at Serpentarium. www.quinnmcgowen.com To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store. Published by Wilmington Star-News on Jun. 4, 2017.

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Welcome

Welcome, this site is intended to be a central place to find content about Dean and his herpetology and other endeavors so it is not lost to antiquity. Dean was a very good friend of mine for the short time I lived in Wilmington, and I make this effort to honor his memory and keep his efforts of exploring nature and the arts alive. Dean lived at the end of Orange Street in an apartment above the serpentarium and I lived a few blocks up Orange Street. Dean lived in a place in life that most could only ever dream of, between the frontier of herpetology and the world of an artist. Dean was the best friend I ever had, and unfortunately his life was ended way too soon as I only got to share 10 years with him. I'd give anything to go back and spend a few hours with him, and this anthology of writings and other media about him will let me get as close to that as I can for now.

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