Kari Ferrell: She is the Hipster Grifter. Discovered by Doree and metamorphosed into a star, and then a convict, and now an ex-convict, and still a star. Read all about her. Korean Abdul-Jabbar.


Gavin McInnes: Vice co-founder turned corporate ad man. Non-voter. Fighter. Drug-involved human. A mixed bag of hot peppers. Gavin McInnes.


Carles of Hipster Runoff: Yea, so, Carles does Hipster Runoff, and maybe some other shit? Carles.


Paul Sevigny: Beatrice Inn impresario. Brother of Chloe. King of the high class hipster diaspora. Savior of Atlantic City (ha). Paul Sevigny.


Dash Snow: Downtown icon. Photographer and semen artist killed by heroin at the tender age of 27. The unintentional Basquiat of a messy subculture. Sacer Irak.


Dov Charney: Pervy American Apparel CEO. Stands squarely at the intersection of hipster and douchebag. Gurl U no U no who he iz. Dov C.


The MisShapes: Leigh Lezark-led black-clad DJ trio. Pied pipers of the Blue States Lose crowd. Asymmetrical. The MisShapes.


The Williamsburg Hair Man: Once known only by a crude marker drawing, he was later spotted and photographed in a Greenpoint coffee shop. His name is Chris and he seems like a nice guy. Everyone admires his verve. Chris, the Williamsburg Hair Man.


Angel Hess, of the Purple Truck: Became a media darling for his spartan lifestyle based in a purple bread truck in Williamsburg. He was friendly, but the world was too cruel; somebody hijacked his truck, in a faraway land. There's probably a metaphor somewhere in there. Angel Hess and his Purple Truck.


The Concept of the Black Hipster: Hey, isn't it kind of racist just to list "black hipsters" as an entire concept, rather than as a vague and near-meaningless category composed of actual individuals, many of whom are probably just as mockable as our other contestants here? Yes. Yes it is. Black hipsters are out there, if you look close! Blipsters.

If you have some nominees of your own, please suggest them in comments. We might add them to the poll. Now go vote!

Yes he was. Both, of course. The only argument is about the degree to which he was either one. In the "tortured artist" camp are most of Dash's friends and family, who tell the L magazine that the characterization of him as just a cum-spewing hipster party boy were...simplistic, at least:

"It bothers me when I see people write, ‘It was about the drugs, it was about the nightlife' - it wasn't, it was about his feeling," [his former lover Kathryn Garcia] said. "I think [Snow's was] a common feeling in New York at the time, it was dark. I mean, it was post-9/11… you know? Everyone had this feeling of loss, and aloneness, and not understanding, and they were rebelling against everything, every structure they could think of. And Dash was one of those people. Dash was a free spirit in a world that wasn't kind to free spirits."...
"He was one of those really pure souls - he was affected by everything, mentally, he was reacting to things constantly," Garcia said.

Most of the art world figures seem to agree, in their public statements, at least. Dash's brand of media-friendly shock art definitely got mixed reviews from fellow artists, but his persona was universally admired. Although not by everyone! Excluding Gawker commenters, one of the harshest appraisals of Dash's legacy came from this Blognigger post today, which says that glorification of people like Dash Snow is one of the main reason people will continue to die from drugs, and be celebrated for it:

Shooting heroin is the pinnacle of what is hardcore. There's nothing more hardcore in the world - it's so hardcore that the most hardcore of us say not to do it because it's too hardcore. We see it as the forbidden fruit in the boring-ass garden of eden...

WE value being Hardcore, and that's why WE keep dying young, and leaving our toddlers behind. WE rebel against a culture that worships the Jonas Brothers or Will Smith or Amerikkka or Money - but as long as we worship being hardcore, we're going to see smack as the ultimate in hardcore, and WE are going to keep testing it, getting addicted, and dying.

Like everyone else in the world, the man had good and bad qualities. Unsatisfying but true! Dash Snow—whether you liked his art or not—lived life fully, which should be appreciated, though not emulated in its specifics. And yes, coming to the realization that killing yourself through hardcore-ness is one of the most important steps towards maturity. Urging your friend to try the equivalent of bungee jumping without a cord, because it's hardcore, is not really a friendly thing to do.

Deitch projects is preparing a Dash Snow memorial exhibition, and his mural is already up. He was a fine graf writer.
[Pic: Sabeth718 via AnimalNY]

As the memorials appear, Dash's legend is growing. The Independent calls him "the mythical hero of an artistic underworld." The Guardian says he was a "mythical figurehead," and compares him to James Dean, Jimi Hendrix, and Sylvia Plath. Vulture spoke to Dash's art dealer:

"I wouldn't say he didn't love living, but living for him was difficult," says Peres, who adds that to his knowledge Snow was alone at the Lafayette House, a hotel in Lower Manhattan, on Monday night. "To simply say he overdosed on drugs is insufficient, because it wasn't that simple. He died and there were drugs involved. He was complex and astute. He was very sensitive. Although he was only 27, he felt the pain of someone who'd lived a long life."

Terrence Koh is dedicating tonight's four-hour performance art piece, in which he "lies on the floor in a shirt made from crushed pearls, his face and feet covered in powder," to Dash.

Koh will change his tune to "Cheree" by the synth-punk band Suicide. As Koh explained in an e-mail message, "It is for one of my best friend's Dash and that is our favorite song together and we used to dance to it together."

Vice co-founder Gavin McInnes says Dash changed his life:

When I used to run around with a camera and a notepad following Irak and documenting as much of their lives as I could, he said something that changed my life forever. He said, "Why are you always reporting on shit and reviewing other people's shit? Why don't you do your own shit?" I couldn't get it out of my head. I still can't. And you shouldn't either.

There's no denying that dying young—while always a tragedy—can do wonders for an artist's legacy. Dash Snow was not the artist that Basquiat was, but their stories do have some strong parallels: graffiti writers who moved into the gallery world, were dismissed as clowns and lightweights, and died drug-related deaths in their 20s. Today, Basquiat is regarded as a major artist of his era, and his cool factor is untarnished; his contemporary Julian Schnabel, who was right there with him, didn't die from drugs, and today is regarded as a bit of a sellout, directing Hollywood films and pouring his time into huge pink apartment buildings for the rich in Manhattan.

Dash Snow was, in fact, more famed and respected for his lifestyle than for his works of art. But death can change that. His don't-give-a-fuck attitude now has a tragic ending; but his art—which ranged from legitimately good but not brilliant to outright corny (in my worthless opinion)—will now begin to be re-evaluated in light of his newfound status a martyr to the fast life. In ten or twenty years, who knows? Condemnations of Dash Snow as a hipster fuck-off are bound to fade away, leaving only the picture of the soul of an artist. That's how legends—and fortunes—get made in the art world.
[Pic: Maayanpearl's Flickr, Peres Projects]

"Untitled (Trouble/Sleep), 2007. Collage." Via.

"TBT, 2008. Photograph - Digital C Print." Via.

"TBT, 2008. Photograph - Digital C Print." Via.

" Untitled digital images, 2007. (Primed urine stained stretched canvas, painted image of baby, various clippings, urine, semen, spit, wax & Rivington Arms ad)." Via.

"Untitled (No.22 & 23), 2007, Polaroid, 4" x 4.25". (Easel, swimming pool, primed urine stained canvas, painted image of baby, various clippings, urine, semen & spit)." Via.

"Untitled,(Hell). 2005. Digital C-Print." Via.

"Untitled (Diptych). 2006. Digital C-Prints." Via.

Graf in Soho, NYC. Via.

In action on the Brooklyn Bridge. Via.

"Fuck the Police (Detail). 2005. 45 Framed press clippings, semen." Via.

"This Was Your Life. 2005. Leather couch, rosary, mask with human hair, mirror, fur coat, horny hillbilly, palm tree, snakeskin boots, silent witness." Via.

"Untitled, 2007. Mixed Media Installation. Via.

We got a tip this morning that Dash had overdosed last night. Earsnot, a.k.a. Kunle Irak, a fellow downtown artist and one of Dash's best friends, posted this on his Twitter page this morning:

A separate source close to Dash confirmed to us this morning through an intermediary that Dash has died. It's already popping up on Twitter, as well. We'll let you know more details as we learn them. (Snow's gallery, Peres Projects in Berlin, isn't releasing a comment).

Dash Snow was most memorably profiled by Ariel Levy in New York magazine two years ago. He and his friends came up in the downtown graffiti scene, and branched out to find success in the art world, without ever losing their bizarre, drug-addled edge.

What makes the legend richer is that Dash Snow could very easily have lived a different kind of life, been a different kind of artist. Snow's maternal grandmother is a De Menil, which is to say art-world royalty, the closest thing to the Medicis in the United States. His mother made headlines a few years ago for charging what was then the highest rent ever asked on a house in the Hamptons: $750,000 a season. And his brother, Maxwell Snow, is a budding member of New York society who has dated Mary-Kate Olsen. But Snow has concocted something else for himself. He has been living as hard as a person can-in and out of jail, doing drugs, running from the police-for a decade. He's unschooled, self-taught.

The Irak crew, which Dash helped found, is now world famous. You can still see his "SACER" tags around the city. His fine art was somewhat less conventional:

Snow has been working with his own ejaculate a lot lately; his contribution to the Saatchi show was a piece called Fuck the Police, which featured sprays of his sperm on a collagelike installation of tabloid cutouts, headlines about corrupt cops.

Dash's other items for sale included T-shirts and his coke, sold on Ebay. Whether you liked his art or not, you have to admire the fact that he was a unique dude. R.I.P.

[Pics: TheWorldsBestEver, BLean's Flickr. More on Dash at Blogue.]

Our Dash Snow Obsession
Dinter Fine Art [Dinter]

Hi my name is brianelectro. My boys and I broke into dash snow's apartment and stole all his coke. Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to own dash snow's coke. And it's a lot of fucking coke!! think of the fun, think of the glamour!! With dash snow's coke you can be a pretentious rich faggot poseur who masquerades as a poor, wild hipster artist!! Be the envy of all your friends
WILLIAMSBURG!!

Dash Snow's Coke [Ebay]
Earlier: Warhol's Children Bite Back

• We can't improve on Best Week Ever's analysis of this Sienna Miller photo from the Factory Girl after party, so we'll just repeat their Chorus Line joke: Dance 10, Looks 3. [BWE]
  
• Barry Obama: the man, the myth, the NYPIRG activist. Also, knows a lot about solid waste policies. [Politico]
  
• So, the cum on the Saddam Hussein newspapers in Dash Snow's studio? Totally real! [Complex]
  
• Don't go to the Waverly Inn expecting to be treated, like, nicely. Dumbass. [Eater]

We hate to break it to you, guys, but we kind of suspect that out lesbian Levy is not really interested in having your "dick in her mouf." Also, doesn't your dick have some commissions that it needs to get to work on?

Groupie Reporter Gets Fartsy Downtown [Irak]

Earlier: We've Got So Much In Common With Dash Snow

[Ryan] McGinley was lying on the floor next to stacks of the New York Post and the Daily News with words and pictures cut out of them. "I've always been a big fan of the Post, and I remember in 1992, or whenever the fuck it was, Desert Storm, the Gulf War? Remember? I'd always read the Post, and there'd be really rad headlines about it," said Snow. "I was just down for it! I'm down with anyone, even if they're bad people, if they're just, like, anti-American, you know what I mean? This is a series I'm working on," he pointed at some collages on the wall with lots of pictures of Saddam Hussein, whose likeness is also tattooed on Snow's arm. "They're old headlines, and they all have come on them. Yeah, mine."

Chasing Dash Snow [NYMag]