Goodbye Dash Snow

It is with incredible sadness and a heavy heart that I write about the loss of Dash Snow. There are many ways to describe Dash -- young and talented artist, downtown fixture, bad boy, SACE, member of IRAK, etc. -- but more than anything, to those who are indescribably affected by the news of his death today, he was a friend. So today I feel a great pang of sorrow from losing someone special. Just from glancing at the outpouring of love bestowed on him on Facebook it's evident that he is someone who made a great deal of impact on countless people who came in contact with him -- through the work he created, the way he lived his life and the warmth he generated. Though he was often shrouded in a tough shell of tattoos, leather and chains, on the inside he was a total sweetheart and as I write this, the image I see of Dash is his face with a sly smile.

I knew Dash since he was a wily teen and watched him go from being the wildest in the bunch to channeling his energy into making great art and then becoming a doting dad to his daughter Secret. A few years ago, before the famous New York Magazine cover, he got upset with me for a story I had written about him for PAPER. The article included a mention of his family much to his disapproval. When it came out I felt extremely bad and convinced I had exploited my friend somehow. Family was such a touchy issue for him. But we soon made up and things were fine between us. Dash was a source of much fascination because of his talent, his pedigree and his reckless lifestyle. At the time of the interview, he was 24 but he said he felt like he was going on 50. Before I went away on my vacation last month, we kept bumping into each other at restaurants -- at Lucien and Takahashi -- and he was always with Secret and looked so good.

I, along with tons of others, hate that he is dead and my heart goes out to his girlfriend Jade, his family and most of all to his daughter. He will be terribly missed.

Photo by Shawn Mortensen