Dash Snow joined the 27 club on July 13, 2009. The cause of death is recorded as: Drug overdose
Dashiell A. Snow, born on July 27, 1981, was an American artist hailing from New York City who gained notoriety for his provocative and raw depictions of the decadent lifestyle of young artists in the city and their social circle. His art included scenes of sex, drugs, violence, and the underground art world.
Snow's early life was marked by challenges. He grew up on the Upper West Side of New York City, with parents Christopher Snow and Taya Thurman, who are descendants of the prominent de Menil family known for their philanthropy and collection of American art. At thirteen, Snow was sent to Hidden Lake Academy, a residential treatment center specializing in children with oppositional defiant disorder.
As a teenager, Snow began documenting his world through photography. He joined the IRAK graffiti crew and adopted the tag "SACE" or "SACER." Snow's first solo photography exhibition took place in 2005, and he soon gained recognition in the art world. In 2006, The Wall Street Journal profiled him alongside other emerging American artists, including Rosson Crow and Ryan Trecartin, and he was included in the Whitney Biennial that same year.
Snow's artistic practice evolved throughout his career. In collaboration with Dan Colen, they created an installation of shredded phone books at Jeffrey Deitch's SoHo gallery, titled "Nest" or "Hamster Nest." In his later work, Snow used his semen as a material applied to or splashed across newspaper photographs of police officers and other authority figures.
Snow's personal life was also marked by notable events. He married Corsican artist Agathe Aparru Snow at the age of eighteen but later divorced. In 2007, his partner, Jade Berreau, gave birth to their daughter, Secret Midnight Magic Nico. Tragically, Snow died on July 13, 2009, from a drug overdose while staying at Lafayette House in New York City. He was just twenty-seven years old.
Snow's legacy continues to influence the art world, with various publications documenting his work, including "Slime The Boogie," "Gang bang at ground zero," and "You Can't Drink It If It's Frozen: the Dash Snow Purple Book." A documentary film about Snow, titled "Moments Like This Never Last," was released in 2020. In 2016, his family unsuccessfully sued McDonald's to remove the tag "SACE" from their graffiti-themed interior design used in some European and Asian restaurants.