New York Magazine has an article on hip as hell, Lower East Side artists Dash Snow, Ryan McGinley, and Dan Colen here. It’s more a fun read than anything, but two things came to mind after I finished it.

First, it’s titled Warhol’s Children, which seemed a bit much. Maybe Warhol’s Son In-laws would have been a more appropriate title. An allusion to his direct heir seems worthy of something more, uh, revolutionary, no? I get that Warhol was an extravagant personality in the scene of his day and was fond of Polaroids too, but he also changed the world of art and the function of the artists persona in the commerce of art. He essentially invented the art star. Not to mention his work and the affect it had and is still having. The comparison the writer draws between Nan Goldin and Dash Snow seems much more appropriate I think, still flattering just more reasonable.

Secondly, and this crossed my mind in more of a vague manner, is the mythologies these guys are constructing around themselves, or in laymen terms the endless radical PR campaign they’re partaking in. In a sense it would make them Warhol’s children since they’ve embraced this facet of Warhol’s legacy so perfectly, but that would hardly be an endearing title then. Warhol’s creation of the celebrity artist may have been as much a byproduct of our culture as his own will, or in other words partially accidental in it’s scope, whereas it seems hyper-self-conscious and not at all accidental with these guys. It’s a farce, a brilliant one, a perfected method to madness. I admire it tremendously b/c it seems more important and magnificent to me than there actual work, and what this made me think was: would it be possible to consider the really great work these guys are doing, the work that will be remembered, performance pieces in the way they are living? Where the Polaroids are just a record of this unending performance of acting out as symbols of what has come of art and celebrity in our culture? Right now, I’m not sure or not if I’m serious…but I had to respond in someway to an article on three artists that doesn’t have even one accompanying image of their work yet readily discusses the impressive size of one of there penises…Colen’s in case you’re wondering.

I don’t know much about it at all really. To me McGinley’s work is good, and I suspect he’s disciplined and intent, but other than that I don’t know except that it seems they’re all having fun, which is a great accomplishment in life. Anyway, some of their work…

photo: © Dash Snow

photo: © Dash Snow

photo: © Ryan McGinley

photo: © Ryan McGinley

sculpture by Dan Colen

sign by Dan Colen