RIP Dash Snow  July 14, 2009

Polarizing New York artist Dash Snow has been pronounced dead after a drug overdose on Monday night at Lafayette House, a hotel in downtown Manhattan.

Snow first came to prominence in a lengthy New York Magazine article in 2007. Known then for a raw and brutally honest photography style Snow's work much like his contemporary and close friend Ryan McGinley captured the sex, drugs and violence of a revolving cast of artists, musicians, drug addicts and fellow downtown denizens.

He would later go on to experiment with collage and art pieces which used his own semen and draw acclaim in the world of high art gracing the pages of magazines such as Purple. His wild-natured lifestyle was marked by the founding of legendary NYC Graf crew Irak (where he tagged under Sacer), run-ins with the law, heavy drug use and an almost mythic presence in the downtown New York scene. This of course betrayed his privileged upbringing as the Grandson of noted art collector and philanthropist Christophe de Menil (actress Uma Thurman is also his aunt). It almost sounds cliche doesn't it? Rich kid rejects his aristocratic pedigree, runs away from home and lives on the streets at 14, becomes an art star somewhere in between and dies of a drug overdose at 27. It's a terrible waste of talent but the real tragedy here is that Dash's young daughter Secret Snow will never know her Father - only the myth of an off the rails artist.

Check out some of his Polaroids below...