[2] Ripps graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Cambria Heights, Queens, New York.
[9] Ripps' work has been tethered to a variety of American artistic movements, most notably neo-expressionism[10] and ornamentalism.
In a 1979 review in ArtForum, art critic Donald B. Kuspit attempted to term Ripps' work as a "Cosmetic Transcendentalism".
[11] This terminology defined Ripps' work as a self-conscious form of transcendentalism that, through vibrancy of colors, scale, and textural variety, embrace "its own cosmetic character, and which is an expression of a theatrical ambition" of the contemporary artistic landscape.
[13] Two of Ripps' works, "Untitled" (1976) and "The Meadow" (1980) belong to the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Museum under their Contemporary Arts wing.