Dash Snow was a New York based artist whose photographs (primarily polaroids) depict sex, drugs, and anything else you can imagine a reckless 20something would do. According to Snow, most of his work serves as a way for him to document nights of hard partying that neither he nor his friends could remember. The work confronts the viewer with imagines he or she might not be accustomed to seeing, especially if it is displayed in a museum. I think I'm drawn to his work because it makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. When I was on a trip to Philadelphia, I saw the picture of a guy snorting cocaine off of a penis blown up huge in the Institute of Contemporary Art, and I thought to myself "This is art?" But I guess I could say that about a lot of things I see in galleries.
http://tinyvices.com/gallery/dash-snow
I'm interested in the "This is art?" question and glad you posted a controversial photographer. The concept of capturing a moment on camera (polaroid, no less) for simple documentation purposes, and knowing it would be the only means of recall may be where the art lies. Depictions of mind-altering substance tie the viewer to the photographer. I want to ask him what exactly was going through his mind when these were taken, if anything, and I find myself drawn to the fact that he likely wouldn't be able to answer.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this is art or not, but when I see these it reminds me of a bad you don't want to remember, but unfortunately there are photographs to prove it did.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite photographs anyone has posted yet. Such a simple idea, why the fuck should we even care what he did in a night? Yet I want to be apart of his photographs.
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